Punarvasu

Authors: Susanne M Hoffmann, Youla Azkarrula

---

Punarvasu, in Tirupperunthurai (Athmanathaswamy temple) near Aranthangi, India, 10th century CE. (SMH 2025).

पुनर्वसु (Punarvasu)

Asterism Info
Native	पुनर्वसु
Romanisation	Punarvasu
IPA	punɐɾʋɐsuː
Translation	Punarvasu
Position (2000)
Right ascension	106.0272135 to 116.3289578
Declination	20.57029847 to 31.88828222
Area	48.3 sq. deg.
Stars
Bright stars	18
Bayer/Flamsteed stars	13
Stars brighter than 3.00m	2
Brightest star	Pollux (1.14m)
Taxonomy
category of asterism	constellation
IAU- constellations	Gem

Punarvasu, 7th Nakshatra, mapped to the Stellarium star chart.

Punarvasu (पुनर्वसु), "the twin-restorers of goods", is an Indian name, used by the Indian Vedic tradition. Most of these names are roughly 3000 years old. They pre-date Hinduism but were taken over by it. It is an asterism consisting of four stars, the brightest ones being alpha and beta Geminorum.

Etymology and History

Name Variants

• Punarvasu (the two restorers),
• Yamakau ("the two chariots")
• Aditerbha

Origin of Constellation

The name of the constellations is grammatically a dual, so it points to two similar stars/ asterisms. This way, it equals the idea of the Greco-Roman and Mesopotamian Twin-constellation where two bright stars head two similar, parallel chains of stars.

4 stars: α, β Geminorum are certain; the other two might be ε, ζ Gem

Stars within the Constellation Area

id	Label	IAU design.	description	Vmag
1	Pollux	HIP 37826	Constellation lines (Vertex)	1.14
2	Castor	HIP 36850	Constellation lines (Vertex)	1.58
3	Wasat	HIP 35550	Constellation lines (Vertex)	3.53
4	κ Geminorum	HIP 37740	Constellation lines (Vertex)	3.57
5	Mekbuda	HIP 34088	Constellation lines (Vertex)	3.79
6	ι Geminorum	HIP 36046	Inside the hull	3.79
7	υ Geminorum	HIP 36962	Inside the hull	4.06
8	65 Gem	HIP 36429	Inside the hull	5.01
9	57 Gem	HIP 35846	Inside the hull	5.022
10	64 Gem	HIP 36393	Inside the hull	5.064
11	76 Gem	HIP 37704	Inside the hull	5.289
12	-	HIP 36896	Inside the hull	5.347
13	59 Gem	HIP 35941	Inside the hull	5.759
14	58 Gem	HIP 35842	Inside the hull	6.17
15	-	HIP 37269	Inside the hull	6.18
16	-	HIP 36325	Inside the hull	6.36
17	-	HIP 37165	Inside the hull	6.37
18	-	HIP 34608	Inside the hull	6.42

Transfer and Transformation of the Constellation

The pattern on the temple engraving is superposed on Castor and Pollux (Shylaja, 2026)

• 
  Punarvasu, 10th century CE
• 
  Display of all 28th nakshatras in silver arch with candles in Tirupperunthurai (Athmanathaswamy temple) near Aranthangi, India, 10th century CE. (SMH 2025).
• 
  Display of all 28th nakshatras in a door frame in Tirupperunthurai (Athmanathaswamy temple) near Aranthangi, India, 10th century CE. (SMH 2025).
• 
  Punarvasu, Tibetean
• 
  Punarvasu, Chinese
• 
• 
  Punarvasu as reconstructed by Jones (1720).

Mythology

mnemonic tales and cultural significance

References

• References (general)