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"Śiśumāra the forgotten Constellation of

Ancient Indian Astronomy" (Invited
Conference Talk)

Conference Paper · November 2015

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 Conference on
History and Development of Mathematics (CHDM)
Organized by
Cell for Indian Science and Technology in Sanskrit (CISTS)
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Bombay
&
Indian Society for History of Mathematics (ISHM)
Under the auspices of
Science and Heritage Initiative (SandHI), IIT Bombay
Dedicated to Professor Radha Charan Gupta on the occasion of his 80th
birthday
Dates: 14-16 November 2015
Venue: Conference Hall, Jalvihar Guest House, IIT Bombay
 Invited Talk

Śiśumāra the forgotten Constellation of Ancient Indian Astronomy

R.N.Iyengar
Distinguished Professor
Centre for Ancient History and Culture
Jain University, Bangalore
[e: [email protected]]

Abstract
Al-biruni (973-1048 CE) in his book on India mentions that religious Hindus held that the
Pole Star is in the constellation that looks like a four-footed aquatic animal called, Śākvarā
and also as Śiśūmāra. He further says that this name sounds similar to the Persian Susumar,
which is the constellation of the Great Lizard, or the modern Draco. He further adds that “the
Hindus tell ludicrous tales about this figure.” By this, he means the Purāṇa texts that praise
devout people who know the 14 stars making up the constellation to be blessed with an extra
14 years of life. Al-biruni, as is well known, was interested in the philosophical and
intellectual traditions of India. He translated into Arabic, apart from astronomical texts, the
Yogasūtra of Patañjali. While explaining the sūtra 3.29 dhruve tadgati jñānam, Al-biruni
once again discusses the constellation Śiśumāra and Dhruva the Pole Star, as per the ancient
Hindu tradition prevalent during his time. Al-biruni had admiration for Indian astronomers
for their scientific approach to the subject. Curiously enough, none of the siddhānta texts
describe any visible Pole Star and also are silent about the constellation named Śiśūmāra.
This might have also prompted Al-biruni not to take the Purāṇas seriously as having records
of some ancient observation.

The above situation should not be surprising, since there was no visible star at the North
Celestial Pole during the first millennium of the Common Era (CE) which was the prime
period of mathematical astronomy in India. Nevertheless, people carried in their collective
memory a fixed Pole Star by the name Dhruva, transmitted through the Vedas and the
Purāṇas. The renowned philosopher Śankarācarya (788-820 CE) in his commentary on the
Viṣṇusahasranāma, which forms a part of the Mahābhārata, analyses the word nakṣatranemi
one among the thousand epithets of Viṣṇu. He cites the authority of the Vedic text Taittirīya
Āraṇyaka (2.19) to explain that Viṣṇu resides at the nave or heart of the Śiśūmāra (aka
Śimśumāra) figure regulating the wheel of the nakṣatras. He also mentions that the star
named Dhruva is stationed at the tail end of the Śiśūmāra. Recognition of this fact has far
reaching consequences for understanding the evolution of observational science in ancient
India going back to the Vedic period.

*****
 11/16/2015

Śiśumāra the forgotten Constellation

of Ancient Indian Astronomy

R.N.IYENGAR
Distinguished Professor
Centre for Ancient History and Culture
Jain University, Bangalore
[e: [email protected]]

ISHM Conference on History of Mathematics

IIT Bombay 14 -16 November 2015

INTRODUCTION
1. LEGEND OF DHRUVA THE CHILD WHO BECAME THE POLE STAR

2. THE CURRENT POLE STAR ATTAINED THE NCP AROUND 1500 AD

3. HOW DID THE PURĀṆAS, JYOTISHA SAMHITA & VEDIC TEXTS BELONGING TO A PREVIOUS
PERIOD KNOW ABOUT A FIXED STAR AT THE POLE?

4. CONFUSION INCREASES AS DHRUVA IN SOME SANSKRIT TEXTS IS SAID TO BE A STATUS OR

POSITION. DIFFERENT ENTITIES OR DEITIES ARE SUPPOSED TO OCCUPY THE POSITION IN
SUCCEEDING MANVANTARAS NUMBERING 14.

5. BRAHMAGUPTA TALKS OF TWO DHRUVAS THAT ARE THE IMAGINARY NORTH & SOUTH
GEOMETRIC POLES OF THE CELESTIAL GLOBE. BRHATSAMHITA HOWEVER ALLUDES TO THE
SAPTARSHIS (U.MAJOR) BEING TIED TO THE STAR DHRUVA.

6. DHRUVA MEANS FIXED, BUT MAHABHARATA MENTIONS THAT THE STAR DHRUVA WAS
MOVING (AS A BAD OMEN). MAITRAYANIYA ARANYAKA RAISES THE QUESTION WHY EVEN
THE DHRUVA GETS DISPLACED ?

7. INDOLOGISTS JACOBI, WHITNEY, KEITH, WINTERNITZ USED DHRUVA IN THEIR

CACOPHONOUS DEBATE ON DATING THE RIGVEDA. WHITNEY AND KEITH OUTRIGHT DENIED
THE EXISTENCE OF SUCH A STAR IN ANCIENT VEDIC LITERATURE !

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TREATMENT OF DHRUVA IN REVERSE

CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER

Polar-Fish with 12 stars going round the NCP.

Dhruva-Matsya-yantra of Padmanabha (15th
Cent.)

“The star at the mouth of the fish is Polaris (α

Ursae Minoris) and the one at the tail end is
called Markaṭī in Sanskrit (β Ursae Minoris or
Kochab). If these two were joined by a straight
line, this line would rotate like the hand of a clock
and make a full circle in a sidereal day of 23 hours
and 56 minutes.” (S.R.Sarma 2012, Journal of
Rashtriya.Sam.Samsthan. Samskrta Vimarshah)

Bhaskara II (1114-1185AD), Brahmagupta (598-

670 AD) also mention Dhruva-matsya

These authors are careful not to

speak of a fixed star at the NCP
by the name DHRUVA. Nor do
they refer to the Śiśumāra of the
Puranas.

Al Biruni (973-1048AD) in his book on India refers to “The Fish” but makes fun of
the religious beliefs of Hindus about the existence of a fixed Pole Star Dhruva.

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the sūtra 3.29 dhruve tadgati jñānam

Vishnusahasranama Bhashya
of Sri Shankaracharya.
Translation by
R.Ananthakrishna Shastri,
Theosophical Society, Madras
1927

Adi Shankaracharya 788-820 AD

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Ancient cosmology has an important place for Mt. Meru at

the tip of which Dhruva as a star resides.
BRAHMANDA, VISHNU & OTHER PURANAS describe Dhruva
as a visible star at the end of a constellation with 14 stars
known as Shishumara that is an animal figure like
Gharial/Porpoise/Whale. In some places Dhruva is said to be
fixed but in several places he is said to be moving.
Bhagavata partly reports the previous Purana texts. But
further says that some people meditate as though
Shishumara comprises of the whole celestial circle and infact
the Universe. This has lead to some people claiming that the
circle of nakshatras or ecliptic to be the Shishumara-chakra.
The more ancient Texts do not support this interpretation

Oil Mill
Model

This text is an example of ancient scientific observation and modeling. This should find a
place in our modern school & college curricula, including Sanskrit Universities 8

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Names of the
14 stars of the
Shishumara
constellation
and the
corresponding
body parts
making up the
animal figure

The last four stars

ending with Dhruva
are circumpolar
9

The movement of sun and other celestial bodies is explained as

induced from Dhruva, who resides at the tail of the Śiśumāra.

Like the lump of clay in the middle of the potter’s wheel moves
slowly sitting at the navel, Dhruva rotates. Dhruva moves in circles
day and night consisting of 30 muhūrtas in the middle of the two
directions (north and south). Like the navel of the potter’s wheel
stays in the same place, so also Dhruva should be known to be
rotating there itself. (Ch 21.v 94, 95,96)

Listen to this (explanation of mine) which is real and observable but

mystifying people. He, who is at the tail of the (constellation) looking
like a śiśumāra; Dhruva the son of Uttānapāda, has become the
main pivot of the pole in the sky. Verily, he rotates the sun, the moon
and the planets continuously. The stars follow him who is himself
moving like a wheel. (Ch 22. v5, 6,7)

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VISHNU PURANA PRESENTS THE SKY PICTURE AS A LEGEND WITH PERSONIFICATION

OF A KING, HIS TWO QUEENS AND THE CHILD DHRUVA. THE STORY IS WELL KNOWN
TO NEED REPITITION. THE DESCRIPTION OF THE CONSTELLATION IS VERY SIMILAR AS
IN BRAHMANDA. AN EXTRA INFORMATION PROVIDED IS THAT THE MOTHER OF CHILD
DHRUVA ALSO BECAME A STAR AND STAYS VERY NEAR HIM (DHRUVA) IN THE SKY.
THIS HELPS TO LOCATE DHRUVA AS THE 14TH STAR ACCOMPANIED BY A NEARBY STAR
ON THE ANIMAL FIGURE.

PURANAS ARE COMPILATIONS OF ANCIENT LEGENDS TRANSMITTED FROM GENERATION TO

GENERATION ORALLY. THEY WERE PUT INTO SCRIPT IN DIFFERENT PERIODS IN DIFFERENT PARTS
OF INDIA. THUS THE PRESENT DAY PRINTED TEXTS CONTAIN ANCIENT INFORMATION SIDE BY
SIDE WITH THE MORE RECENT. WE CAN NOT ASSIGN SPECIFIC DATES FOR THE WHOLE OF
BRAHMANDA OR THE VISHNU PURANA. BUT THE SKY PICTURES DESCRIBED THEREIN GIVE AWAY
AN UPPER BOUND DATE AFTER WHICH ONLY THE DESCRIPTION COULD HAVE ENTERED THE
PURANA TRADITION.

BHAGAVATA HAS ALMOST SAME MODEL DESCRIBED IN PROSE, BUT WITH SOME EXTRA
INFORMATION ON HOW TO MEDITATE. THIS SEEMS TO HAVE OVERTAKEN THE ANCIENT
PHYSICAL ASTRONOMICAL PICTURE BY VEDANTIC CONCEPTS OF ALL PERVADING BRAHMAN.
GRADUALLY THE
COLUMN LIKE MERU
BECOMES MORE
IMPORTANT THAN
THE STAR DHRUVA.
STILL PLANETS ARE
PICTURED TO BE
GOING ROUND
MERU.

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The word Dhruva means true, certain, unchanging and fixed.

The texts use words sthān.u, med.hī, nābhi to qualify Dhruva reflecting a sense of fixity and
centrality.
Puranas mention the daily circular motion of Dhruva as observable.
Hence we have to infer that the star had shifted by more than a degree from the NCP for its
circling motion to have been recognized by naked eye observations.
This apparent contradiction indicates that the nomenclature Dhruva for this North Star should
have gained popularity in a period before the theories of Purana got formulated

VISHNU PURANA, VAYU, MATSYA, LINGA PURANA, BHAGAVATA PURANA HAVE SIMILAR
STATEMENTS WITH SOME VARIANT READINGS. THUS, CENTURIES BEFORE THE SIDDHANTIC
ASTRONOMY STARTED THERE WERE EFFORTS TO PROPOSE A PHYSICAL MODEL, COSMOLOGICAL
IN NATURE, FOR THE OBSERVABLE SKY. THIS EXPLAINED THE APPARENT MOVEMENTS OF SUN,
MOON, PLANETS AND STARS AS CONTROLLED BY AND ACTUALLY DRIVEN IN CIRCULAR PATHS BY
THE POLE STAR CALLED DHRUVA, WHICH WAS AT THE TOP OF THE Mt. MERU. MERU WAS AN
IMAGINARY POLE CONNECTING EARTH WITH THE NCP. ALL THE VISIBLE CELESTIAL OBJECTS
WERE SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN CONNECTED TO THE POLE STAR BY INVISIBLE AIR STRINGS.

THE CONCEPT OF COORDINATE “DHRUVAKA”= POLAR LONGITUDE OF THE SIDDHANTAS

ORIGINATES FROM THE DHRUVA CENTRIC ASTRONOMY.

[ JAINA TEXTS ALSO USE THE MERU MODEL EXTENSIVELY. BUT STAR DHRUVA IS NOT INVOKED.]

R.H.Allen Star-Names and their Meanings. GE Stechert, New York 1899

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HOW THE DHRUVA CENTRIC MODEL HAS TO BE

UNDERSTOOD? THE MAIN QUESTION WOULD BE
WHAT DOES THE NUMBERS, DISTANCES AND
RELATIVE POSITIONS MENTIONED IN THE PURANAS
MEAN? ARE THEY CONSISTENT WITH THE MERU-
DHRUVA POSTULATES?
PRELIMINARY STUDY OF THE ABOVE QUESTION WAS
UNDERTAKEN BY R.L.THOMPSON.

Maitrayani Aranyakaof the Yajurveda; This text belongs to

1800-1600 BCE based
on the winter
solstice point located
at middle-of-
dhanishtha.

one of the important

question posed by
King Brhadratha to
Sage Śākāyanya was,
why Dhruva
drifts, why the
air strings
holding the
Mahabharata Bhishma Movement of celestial bodies
Parvan Dhruva in MBh dip ?

After Thuban left the Pole, k-Draconis was nearest to the

16
NCP at 85d 13’ in 1300 BC, as the 15th star not the 14th .

8
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Winter solstice at middle of

Dhanishtha star

HERE IT IS SAID THAT WINTER STARTED WHEN SUN WAS AT THE MID-POINT
OF DHANISHTHA. THIS WAS POSSIBLE DURING 1600-1800 BC. The year was
divided into two half based on Sun. This was the first two division solar 17
tropical zodiac

Purana Names:
1.Dharma: Head
2.Uttanapada: Upper
Jaw
3.Kratu: Lower Jaw
4.Narayana: Heart
5.Samvatsara: Genital
6-7 Ashvins: Forelegs
8-9. Aryama-Varuna:
Hind legs
10.Mitra: Seat 14 STARS
11.Agni: Tail-1 NAMED ON THE
FIGURE
12.Indra: Tail centre
SHISHU
13.Kashyapa: Tail-3 MARA
14.Dhruva: Tail end.

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CELESTIAL ANIMAL
FIGURE

MEDITATION ON THE
CONSTELLATION IN
THE EVENING IS
ENJOINED BY THE
VEDIC TEXT

ABHAYA=DHRUVA
AT THE END

North Pole Current

Dhruva

Vedic
Dhruva

Sādhya
27,000 years required to VishNu
complete one cycle

Taittiriya āranyaka describes constellation Draco as Shishumara with

14 stars at the end of which Abhaya-Dhruva (α-Draconis or Thuban)
was stationed.
Ekāgni of Krishna Yajurveda pictures this as a Fixed Peg driven in
ground around which animals go round.

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Current Dhruva!

Dhruva of the
Kr.Yajurveda & Vedic
Practices
C 2800 BC.
Maitrayaniya Aranyaka,
PuraNas &
Mahabharata refer to
this star as the moving
Dhruva

α-Draconis was the Pole Star during 3200-2400 BCE. In this long period, the declination of this
star varied from 870 56’ to 87036’, reaching 89053’ in 2830 BCE.
The naming of the Vedic star Abhaya (No-fear) as Dhruva (Fixed, Certain) in the Śiśumāra should
have happened during this period, which gives a broad relative chronology.
By 1900 BCE the separation of Dhruva from NCP increased to 50 and the circumpolar nature of
the star would have been evident to observers of the night sky. King Brhadratha in Mai.A. feels
21
depressed because even Dhruva was subject to movement c 1600 BCE.
.

α-Draconis was the Pole Star during 3200-2400 BCE. In this long
period, the declination of this star varied from 870 56’ to 87036’,
reaching 89053’ in 2830 BCE
K-Draconis reached 85020’ in 1325 BC. The Brighter Kochab of
U.Minor reached 83028’ around 1050 BC

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Constellation Śiśumāra
All the Purānas declare that Dhruva was at the end of the tail of Śiśumāra made of fourteen stars
in a particular order along the body of the figure. Even though one can not be sure of the way
the ancients assembled the various stars to get the figure of Śiśumāra (Dolphin or Porpoise or
Gharial) it is easy to observe that it can be matched only with the modern constellation Draco,
the Dragon.

Since Thuban (α-Draconis) was the Pole Star in ancient times one is forced to seriously consider
the identification of Dhruva with this star as being at the tail end of the figure. This also has star
10-Dra of magnitude 4.55 identifiable with Sunīti, very near Dhruva as mentioned in the VP. But
Thuban, here identified with Dhruva was not precisely at the NCP when Br. P and VP developed
their theories based on its circumpolar nature. This takes us into the Vedic texts.

Confusion of Indologists: Jacobi, Whitney, Keith, Winternitz

Hindu Marriage Manuals starting with the Grhya Sutras (c 500 BC) prescribe showing the Pole
Star to the bride by the bridegroom as an important ritual. Jacobi (1894) argued that since the
Sutras are modern and during their time there was no Pole Star, the ritual should have
originated when Thuban was the Pole Star. Hence Rgveda should be as ancient as 3000 BC.
Whitney (1895) & Keith (1927) opposed to any hypothesis that makes Rgveda older tan 1500 BC
vehemently differed with Jacobi.

Whitney wrote “….any star not too distant from the pole would have satisfied both the newly
wedded woman and the exhibitor; there is no need of assuming that the custom is one
handed down from the remote period when α-Draconis was really very close to the pole,
across an interval of two or three thousand years during which there is no mention of pole-
star, either in Veda or in Brāhmana.”

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“…the argument from the pole star assumes an

accuracy in the demands of the primitive Indian
wedding ritual which is wholly unnatural.” He
continued in the same tenor “…..a passage
which consists of foolish reasons for preferring
one or other of the Naksatras; we are in the
same region of popular belief as when in the
Sutra literature the existence of Dhruva, a fixed
polar star, is alleged.” He added a foot note, as
though not satisfied with his arguments (p 79);
“The pole star, Dhruva, appears in the Grhya
Sutras only.”

JACOBI DID NOT LOOK INTO TEXTS OTHER THAN THE LATE SUTRAS. WHITNEY & KEITH
WERE PREJUDICED AGAINST ANY DATE BEFORE C 1200 BC FOR THE RGVEDA THAT
DISTURBS THE ARYAN INVASION THEORY BASED ON INDO-EUROPEAN LINGUISTIC
AFFINITIES.

HOWEVER WE SEE THAT YAJURVEDIC VEDIC TEXTS MORE ANCIENT

THAN THE SUTRAS DO CONTAIN REFERENCE TO THE Śiśumāra
CONSTELLATION CARRYING THE POLE STAR.

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In the study of history of Indian Astronomy, questions are raised as to whether our ancients
named groups of stars in terms of names of animals. Or was this a method that started after the
influence of Greeks post 300 BC?

Mrgasira (Head-of-antelope) for Orion is well known. Rksha (Bear) was the ancient name for
U.Major popularly known as Saptarshi (Seven Sages). To this we must add Śiśumāra, (Draco) the
Dragon or the Whale/Gharial/Porpoise.

Śiśumāra in the Rgveda: RV 1.116

This is patently a celestial
description of a cart being
drawn in the sky to which
were yoked a Vrishabha
(Bull) and a Śiśumāra
(whale). Sayana
comments: Ashvins to
show their valour tied such
opposing animals to the
chariot. Essentially the
poet refers to the
constellations Draco and
the other slightly below
namely the Taurus.

There are still other Texts that refer to the celestial Śiśumāra

1. Pancavimsha Brahmana has a hymn S’arkara-saman by means of which one is said to cross
the ocean. This is attributed to Śiśumāra Rshi who was in the sea and later went up to the
skies. This indirectly indicates that this constellation, with several circumpolar stars, was
helpful in navigation.

2. Atharva-veda-parishishta: (ancient to 300 BC)

(AVParis_52,10.2) aruṇaś ca danuś caiva yāmyāyāṃ sthāvarāḥ smṛtāḥ/

gautamo 'trir vasiṣṭhaś ca viśvāmitras tu kaśyapaḥ ||
ṛcīkaputraś ca tathā bharadvājaś ca vīryavān/
ete sapta mahātmāna udīcyāṃ sthāvarāḥ smṛtāḥ ||
śiśumāreṇa sahitā dhruveṇa ca mahātmanā/ pulastyaḥ pulahaḥ somo bhṛgur aṅgirasā saha ||

Bhadrabahu Samhita (Jaina Tradition ~ 300 BC) In Ketuchara, mentions the portent of a Comet
masking the constellation Darco

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Vrddha-Garga Samhita
(500 BC?) Quoted by
Ballala Sena in the Adbhuta
Sagara (1200 AD)

The text of Vrddhagarga is available only as manuscripts. I have checked the above in six Mss.
NLI Th 319

Star Dhruva by name is also mentioned. All manuscripts say that Dhruva is the first among
the Stars. This appears in the commentary of Somakara on Lagadha’s Vedanga Jyotisha also.
R15.96
Cambridge
Univ.UK

SUMMARY & CONCLUSIONS

1. Station of the Pole Star in the constellation named Śiśumāra which was doubted
by Albiruni was actually a long standing tradition religiously remembered and
transmitted in the collective memory of Hindus.
2. The Puranas treat the Pole Star Dhruva rather ambiguously. In some places Dhruva
is said to be fixed. In other places a rationale is evolved out of the
circumambulation of the Star around the pole as the driving force for the circular
motion of Sun, Moon and Planets. But the constellation Śiśumāra was
remembered as important.
3. Siddhantic Astronomers with their mathematical methods did not need the
support of Śiśumāra with a fixed star, except for Mt. Meru in cosmological
descriptions.
4. Maitrayaniya Aranyaka, Mahabharata and even the Yoga Sutra indicate that
Dhruva was not fixed but was capable of movement.
5. Laudation for the Śiśumāra in the Taittiriya Aranyaka (II.19) is the earliest
traceable Vedic reference. This hymn names all the 14 stars and also names the
last star Abhaya and Dhruva; that is fearless and fixed. Such an observation would
have been possible during 3200-2800 BC. This Vedic text knows Meru also.
6. Relation between Vedic astronomy and the later siddhantas is still a subject for
further investigation.

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THANK YOU

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