Bhujanga
Authors: Shylaja, Susanne M Hoffmann
Bhujanga (भुजङ्ग), Serpent, is an Indian star name, found in the catalogue of stars (Ref)[1]. Since this is a southern star, it is not often cited by other classical texts from North India.
Concordance, Etymology, History
The word means a serpent. Sometimes it is also written as Bhujaga. It is usually referred to a large-sized king cobra variety.
Origin of Constellation
The star name is engraved as Bhujaga on the celestial globe H001 in Jaipur, India, as detailed in the online catalogue of Indian astronomical instruments. The constellation is named Nauka (ship) which is a translation of the Greek Argo (Navis in Latin, "nautikos" from "naos" meaning "ship" in Greek); it is written as naukamuthih (image of the ship) on the Indian globe[2] (Sarma, 2022).
The coordinates of the star are written as
व्यंगांशाद्बिः ५|५० द्विमितिः भुजङ्गो |[3]
याम्यः सपादाब्धिरसैः ६४ |१५ विभागैः ||
vyaṃgāṃśādbiḥ 5|50 dvimitiḥ bhujaṅgo |
yāmyaḥ sapādābdhirasaiḥ 64 |15 vibhāgaiḥ ||
which translates as
1/6th of a degree subtracted from six degrees [5|50] becomes one of the coordinates and the other coordinate of the star Bhujanga, which is along the south with second order brightness, is sixty four degrees along with quarter of a degree [64|15 S]
This agrees with Gamma Velorum (γ Vel).
Transfer and Transformation of the Constellation
Religion/ Tales/ Mythology
Bhujanga is a name found in many epics and puranas. However, which particular one is used in naming this star is not very clear.
IAU WGSN Star Name Discussion
Weblinks
References
- References (general)
- ↑ Venketeswara R Pai and Shylaja, B S, Observational records of stars in Indian texts – III (Gemini) R. https://www.currentscience.ac.in/Volumes/117/08/1383.pdf
- ↑ S. R. Sarma, ‘A Descriptive Catalogue of Indian Astronomical Instruments’, (2023) online https://srsarma.in/catalogue.php
- ↑ Venketeswara R Pai and Shylaja B S, 2021, From Nadyantaka to Pourṣṇa- compilation of stars catalogued in Sarvasiddhāntarāja, J. Astrophys. Astr. 42:113
