विष्णुभ Viṣṇubha

Altair · α Aquilae · Aquila

nakshatra aliasidentification certainattestations 1 Altair α AqlHIP 97649mag 0.76

In the living languages

Altair (3 names)

Attestations

Utpala's commentary · Utpala 966 CE; Kāśyapa is a pre-Varāhamihira authority surviving only in citation

त्रिष्वश्विन्यादिषु यदा चरति भृगुनन्दनः। नागवीथीति सा ज्ञेया प्रथमान्या निबोधत॥ रोहिण्यादिगजा ज्ञेयाऽदित्याद्यैरावती स्मृता। मघाद्या वृषभा ज्ञेया हस्ताद्या गौः प्रकीर्तिता॥ जारद्गवी विशाखाद्या मूलाद्या मृगवीथिका। अजवीथी विष्णुभाद्याऽजाद्या तु दहना स्मृता॥ इति॥

Transcribed from the Devanagari OCR of the printed edition at shloka_source_url (Achyuta Nand Jha ed., vol. 1) and checked word-for-word against two further independent scans of two different printed editions of the same commentary — Krishna Chandra Dvivedi's (https://archive.org/download/brihatsamhitawithbhattotpalavivrittipartidr.krishnachandradvivedi/Brihat%20Samhita%20%20with%20Bhattotpala%20Vivritti%20Part%20I%20-%20Dr.%20Krishna%20Chandra%20Dvivedi_djvu.txt) and A.V. Tripathi's (https://archive.org/download/JiUm_brihat-samhita-part-1-of-varaha-mihira-by-avadh-bihari-tripathi-saraswati-bhavan-granthamala/Brihat%20Samhita%20Part%201%20of%20Varaha%20Mihira%20by%20Avadh%20Bihari%20Tripathi%20-%20Saraswati%20Bhavan%20Granthamala_djvu.txt). Only glyph-level OCR artifacts that all three scans show to be artifacts (e.g. OCR रद्वव for रद्गव, श्व for श्च) have been normalised; every substantive reading is as scanned, and the two places where the scans genuinely differ are flagged in identification_notes.

See the full rendering under db_id 'aditya-punarvasu'. — Literal rendering by the compiler

'Viṣṇu's asterism' = ŚRAVAṆA, whose regent is Viṣṇu. From Kāśyapa's vīthī verses quoted by Utpala on BS 9.1: 'ajavīthī viṣṇubhādyā' — the Aja-vīthī begins with Viṣṇubha; the twenty-second asterism counting from Aśvinī in triads is Śravaṇa. Utpala confirms the deity at BS 97.5: 'harir viṣṇuḥ śravaṇasya'. Distinct word-form from, but same sense as, the database's existing 'vaishnava' (Vaiṣṇava, Sūrya-siddhānta 9.18); see_also that entry. Modern star follows the database's 'shravana'/'vaishnava' identification of Śravaṇa with Altair.

Utpala, Vivṛti on Bṛhat Saṃhitā 9.1, quoting Kāśyapa · text · translation