Paushna

Authors: ASE Tech Team, Shylaja, Susanne M Hoffmann

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Revati 10th century

The possible identification of the five stars of Revati from the temple engraving. They are e d z89 and 96

Pouṣṇa (पौष्ण) is another name for Revati, (रेवती), the 27th nakṣatra of Vedic astral science, located in the Pisces/Andromeda area. The yogatara (main star) is ζ Psc and it consists of more than one star.

Etymology and History

Name & Spelling Variants

• Revati
• Pouṣṇa (पौष्ण)
  • Poushna
  • Pouchna
  • Pooshna
  • Pushan

Pouṣṇa (पौष्ण) is also the name of the 27th nakshatra and, specifically, its yogatara (main star) Revati is assigned ζ Psc. This has the presiding deity as Pūṣan, the Sun. The word Pouṣṇa is derived from Pūṣan.

Identification and Main Star

Revati's shape in temple illustrations shows a group of five stars ε , δ , ζ, 89 and 96 Psc. It matches a characteristic arch pattern, including its determinative star (ζ Psc). We arrive at the identification with ζ Psc as determined from the coordinates of Sūryasiddhānta (4th/5th century).

Other identifications give longer list of stars: ε Psc, 71 Piscium, BD+07 153, FK5 36, GC 1258, HD 6186, HIP 4906, HR 294, PPM 144204, SAO 109627.     

In the catalogue of stars provided by Nityananda of 17th century, the entry corresponds to the name Pouṣṇa, the ecliptic longitude if 359 degrees and the latitude zero. This position is midway between ζ Psc and ε Psc.

Stars within the Constellation Area

ε Piscium	71 Piscium	BD+07 153	HR 294	HIP 4906
δ Psc,	63 Piscium,	BD+06°107,	HR 224	HIP 3786
ζ Psc,	86 Piscium,	BD+06°174	HR 361	HIP 5737	Revati (रेवती)
89 Psc		BD +02 185		HIP 6061
96 Psc	96 G.Piscium	BD +04 123	HR 4628	HIP 3765

Transfer and Transformation

• 
  Revati 10th century
• 
  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).
• 
  Revati, Tibetean
• 
  Revati, Chinese
• 
  Revati Hindu
• 
• 
  Lord Revati
• 
  Revati as reconstructed by Jones (1720)

Mythology/ Religion

The position is indicated by the blue symbol between ζ and ε Psc

IAU Working Group on Star Names

The name Pouṣṇa for ε Psc was suggested to WGSN in 2023. Based on the identification of the position of the 27th nakshatra in a 17th century star catalogue, which lists a coordinate between Zeta and Epsilon Pisces, the name Poushna was proposed as a star name for Epsilon (Zeta is already named Revati).

Reference

• References (general)