here is my hypothesis: Cassiopeia is உண்ணா முலை. First thing look at the picture of Cassiopeia - other than "W" what do you see ... உண்ணா முலை right? I see it man, I see it. I finally god damn see it. I am so excited.... நீராடும் பாவை eh? having a happy bath right there in the milky way, the ganges of the sky, ... the reference in all of thiruppaavai and thiruvembaavai? How it got mixed up as the ardra nakshatra in Orion - because buddies possibly, just like the baffoon of me got baffled looking up at the Canadian sky in December wondering where the heck orion went, possibly the migrants of other caucassian northern latitude cultures into the wealthy ganges lands wondered where the heck cassiopeia of december went ... they found an alternate queen in the head of siva eh? having a happy bath in the milky way ... right there in December! What is absolutely crazy in this hypothesis? I discovered she is called "aathirai" in many cultures! Greek word is Aithre and Latin word is Aithra!Ofcourse star constellations are just pictures based on our imaginations, other people didnt see the W but they saw a chair but remembered its a female and made it the throne of a female!!! Atleast always consistently female there ... For naked eyes, for a complete novice like me only a W is visible ... I see முலை. உண்ணா because it is upright I guess - pretty strange with it floating on the milky way eh! :) What it has got to do with அண்ணாமலை town and the lord and lady in that temple I am not pretty sure from an astro-geo positioning point of view! But the W does become M in the early morning supposedly and if you see the throne it goes upside down, so the vain queen has to hang on it! ...
Lets simply focus on this fact. A normal person with no star gazing experience will first spot Orion if they look up in the sky in India. If that same person just lifts their head up in Northern Latitudes they will first spot the W Cassiopeia. Thats it. December specials on the milky way.
I cant see Siva Orion ji in the evenings here in Canada ... I see only my paavai his devotee bathing in milky way... my cassiopeia in the evenings of Canada. So I wondered finally if she shows up in the mornings in Tamil Nadu in December ... I dont think so .. .did the migrants of those days mixed up Rudra with Athra or replaced Athra with Rudra for the new latitude? something eh ...
Okay I agree this may sound completely idiotic for an experienced person who knows more about this all. I am writing it down so that someday I can look back and correct it.
hey, hey, hey, wait a minute, wait a minute ... then where do you see full moon near which star of which constellation in december-january month ? isnt the pretty moon supposed to be happily sitting next to the Rudra nakshatra Thiruvaathirai nakshatra right on Orion? Then where the heck would I see the pretty moon here in Canada. So I will soon have a strong reason to slap myself out of my silly hypothesis or would I celebrate? Cant wait for thiruvaadhirai. Should be Jan 9 right? I am reading just now that Orion does show up, but a bit late in the evening supposedly ... hmmm... but what happens to Cassiopeia in Indian sky? Still figuring out the sky geometry!
Lets simply focus on this fact. A normal person with no star gazing experience will first spot Orion if they look up in the sky in India. If that same person just lifts their head up in Northern Latitudes they will first spot the W Cassiopeia. Thats it. December specials on the milky way.
I cant see Siva Orion ji in the evenings here in Canada ... I see only my paavai his devotee bathing in milky way... my cassiopeia in the evenings of Canada. So I wondered finally if she shows up in the mornings in Tamil Nadu in December ... I dont think so .. .did the migrants of those days mixed up Rudra with Athra or replaced Athra with Rudra for the new latitude? something eh ...
Okay I agree this may sound completely idiotic for an experienced person who knows more about this all. I am writing it down so that someday I can look back and correct it.
hey, hey, hey, wait a minute, wait a minute ... then where do you see full moon near which star of which constellation in december-january month ? isnt the pretty moon supposed to be happily sitting next to the Rudra nakshatra Thiruvaathirai nakshatra right on Orion? Then where the heck would I see the pretty moon here in Canada. So I will soon have a strong reason to slap myself out of my silly hypothesis or would I celebrate? Cant wait for thiruvaadhirai. Should be Jan 9 right? I am reading just now that Orion does show up, but a bit late in the evening supposedly ... hmmm... but what happens to Cassiopeia in Indian sky? Still figuring out the sky geometry!
5 comments:
didnt know you are into constellations...once my fav. passtime too..
ashok
hi ashok, yes I got into this crazy game more deeply only a year or two ago ... had been always on my wish list, but it was Goan December skies that gave me the best views! You know I found something really funny yesterday - I found that indeed annamalai is a twin mountain like a W and actually with one short mountain like in Cassiopeia W shape ... But the most fun part was that somewhere I read sanskrit name of "unnamalai" is 'apeetha kujalambal" wow "apeetha" "unnnaa" made good sense ... and I always found this abithagujalambal name fun - never knew it could mean something like Cassiopeia. Its fun looking up at the Canadian sky and saying "hello apeethakujalambal" :)
wow..now i know what that name means...long time wondering:)
Star gazing from nearer the North Pole - must be pretty fascinating perspective. I must check out the W that you refer to.
An aside:
Hey K - I'm coming across the name Aathirai the third time in the past week or so.
First I saw that GB had named her daughter Adhira; I was mentioning this to my wife and she said that a cousin of hers who recently had a baby also named the baby Aadhirai and now I see the name referred to on your blog.
I find that a rather high frequency of reference, considering that one doesn't come across this name often.
-V
Dear V, I didnt know this was really a popular name these days! I thought aathirai was a sangam period epic character in tamilnadu - somebody goes to naga land and all that ... and after that I never heard of it!
wow ... interesting that people are choosing it as a name and I did a random search that in north it is a male name (i see there is still confusion between female aathirai and male arudra even in shaivite religion!) ... but in female version it is supposed to a special star ... still hinting on "betelgeuse" perhaps who is rudra in some contexts! :) ... but I really think cassiopeia is consistently female and it seems she can well be the famous aathirai of our culture ... just now after seeing your comment, I was googling and wiki searching and here is something I found that just made my day:
Semmeen Ezhumin Vizhavu (Aathi-Iřai Darisanam) or Aruthra Darishanam, the occasion of Lord Siva coming down from the ThiruCitrambalam திருச்சிற்றம்பலம் and taking a look at the vaigarai Thiru Aathirai star in the early morning on the day before the full moon in Panmizh. Aathi Irai min means the star of the God (Siva) on the Bull (Nandi).
http://en.wikipedia.org
/wiki/Sangam_period
Panmizh is indeed margazhi. I definitely have this feeling that this whole thiruvembavai is about a early morning star ... and I madly wish to think that it could be cassiopeia since it is a circumpolar star and it possibly has a way of showing up in the horizon at certain months for tropical view? but when I see google sky it looks like it has been there in indian view always in december and I didnt spot it ... Cassiopeia has definitely provoked my curiosity a lot this year! I really really hope to find our the cross standing upright on christmas night at the horizon at about 8:30pm! ... I never knew constellations change shape in a single night and northern cross supposedly does! Cassiopeia too .. hmmmm ... learning ... still ... great to see you here! :)
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