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| Page 6, Chapter 6, The constellations of ancient Egypt by Jose Lull and Juan Antonio Belmonte |
Page 6, Chapter 6, The constellations of ancient Egypt by Jose Lull and Juan Antonio Belmonte
These Egyptologists must have worked for several years and published several papers, debated and then given this hypothesis which is not more than an intelligent guess.
I took ten minutes to figure this out what exactly, the names and meanings are.
In fact typing this out would is more time consuming than deciphering the names. In fact I do not call it decipherment because it is so obvious and any one with little knowledge of Sanskrit like me can read it like we read any language book we know.
I will write each one by giving the transliteration as well as the word and the meaning as per any Sanskrit dictionary:
1. ma-ra-ta= mAruta= Constellation svAti, Associated star, Arcturus. Zodiac- Libra.
The Etymology of the word svAti could be su-Ati=excellent/virtuous/good etc.--aquatic bird or "Turdus Ginginianus"= virtuous/excellent thrus bird.
The problem with Egyptologists is that they do not understand the meaning of any of the words and just make stories by looking at the picture. I do not say the name what they are giving "spdt" is wrong but it is an adjective BUT it is not written here.
Then how they arrived at this name spdt, well here is the clue
Sopdet
The left side it is written mAruta- asa/Asa= mAruta dwells/exists etc.
The right side one is written as mAruta-su-pAda = mAruta- supAda= mAruta, excellent footed or mAruta having beautiful feet.
Alternatively, it could also be read as meru-su-padati= sumeru-padati= very exalted/excellent- firmly fixed= Firmly fixed very exalted.
The problem of Egyptologists can be explained very easily.
Let’s assume a hypothetical situation, 
has
been identified as a flower which is very obvious. There are different set of
alphabets are written in front of this flower and we would reconstruct it by
giving some known words instead of the unknown words. Let’s say the following
things are written:
has
been identified as a flower which is very obvious. There are different set of
alphabets are written in front of this flower and we would reconstruct it by
giving some known words instead of the unknown words. Let’s say the following
things are written:
Stinking
Red
Lovely
Now, when the Egyptologists read these at
different locations, they would assume the following:
stnkg=flower,
variation rd=flower, variation lvly= flower. Next time, they do not find
any of these things written before this, they would say, abbreviated.
, they would say, abbreviated.
Thus the word for this star is mAruta and not spdt.
We will later see how this word m r for Pyramid came into existence and I will show how ignorant Egyptologists are.
Probably the pyramidical shape of this svAti constellation, led the ancient Egyptians to associate it with the Pyramid Hieroglyphic.
2. suvAha= good stallion=Horse. haya is one of other words for horse so it could mean same as number 39 in the list.
Probably the pyramidical shape of this svAti constellation, led the ancient Egyptians to associate it with the Pyramid Hieroglyphic.
2. suvAha= good stallion=Horse. haya is one of other words for horse so it could mean same as number 39 in the list.
3. a-ta-ra= atri= devourer/one of the seven stars of great Bear= star of the great Bear, the devourer.
4. kha-tR= Star of the sky/heaven. No specific star or constellation name is known by this name.
5. kANDa= cluster/abundance. Suggests milkyway
6. a-ra-na-sa= arNas= abounding in. so if we add the word stars after this it will mean abounding in star. For example go arNas= abounding in stars or rays. because the word go=cow/star. Thus the name of a particular star or constellation is not given here. It just means abounding in stars may be a milkyway.
7. A-pa-da-pa can be read in several ways
a) pApada= bringing misfortune/inauspicious.
b) Apada/Apad/ApadA---pa/pA=protecting calamities/misfortune.
Thus depending upon how you read it, it means similar thing that calamities have the protection of this star. In the first glance the meaning may look like contradictory but if you analyze, meanings are the same.
Here by the name, it is not clear which constellations or stars they are talking about. They are just talking about the legend or beliefs associated with this particular star as we still do in India.
8. Aya-Rta= Eleventh Lunar mansion of divine truth. The Lunar constellation is the 11th one.
9. na-kha-ta-ra= nakSatra= Lunar mansion. No specific mention of any particular constellation.
Here the man standing with a stick is "s r" or zrI.
10. dvi-sthAna-dRkANa= Two position dRkANa.
dRkANa has been defined as the third part of the Zodiac or a demi god presiding over it.
Now it is interesting to note that Western commentators have a tendency to associate the Greek 'Decan' system with Hindu astronomy or astrology and suggest that this word dRkANa has come in Indian lexicon from the Greeks.
This transliteration of these Hieroglyphs will be contrary to their beliefs.
Since I am not good in Astrology or Astronomy, I will leave it to the readers to understand what it means. Probably, if some one well versed with this subject can shed some more lights on identifying the constellation.
11. sa-ta-ra-meSa= stri-meSa or stR-meSa= STAR- SHEEP/RAM/ARIES= Aries star. Thus here it means Aries and not capricorn.
12. va-i-A-maga= vyomaga= being that moves in the sky/air.
So, if have to read it along with the word star, it will read as moving star= shooting star.
Though there is no basis for me to read it as vyo-man= vyoman= 10th Lunar mansion.
If we read the word maga and use the aspirate gha for ga, it becomes,
maghA= Constellation maghA, the bountiful and its associated star is Regulus. Incidentally this is also called the 10th Lunar mansion.
Thus the sound "na" is coming from the word for star here and instead of the full word for maga only ma is taken.
I searched several Sanskrit dictionaries but did not find na meaning star, however another letter
| ञ | Ja |
sounding the same as na means planet venus.
Is there any association? I am not aware.
13. ASTra= sky. Thus, it is a general word meaning star of the sky.
14. rAtri- zuNDA= elephant's trunk at night.
zuNDA means female hippopotamus as well as the elephants trunk.
Thus it refers to constellation Cassiopeia.
16. nipur-hRd-bhAdra= beautiful- heart/mind-bhAdra. It refers to the bhAdra constellation or the Lunar mansion called purvA-bhAdrapada corresponding to α and β Pegasi.
17. manita/mAnita/manitA/maNita etc.= known/honorable or respectable. So it could mean known star or respected star.
There are several words associated with these Hieroglyphics, however if we take the particular one maNita= inarticulate sound utterings by woman during amorous activities and what is the word for these sexual activities or amorous activities? mithuna= sex, copulation, mating, paired etc.
So the Zodiac it indicates is mithuna which is called Gemini in English.
18. meSa-bAhu= Ram's foreleg.
but meSa means Aries and bAhu means constellation ArdrA, the moist one with associated star as alpha-Ori.
But meSa is Aries, does it mean that Ardra falls in Aries? But Ardra falls in Gemini, as per Indian astronomy.
These are contradictory so something is wrong in our reading. If we read the sign kha first and ma second then it can be read as soma-bAhu= heaven's forelegs and would be heavenly constellation Ardra.
19. navana-hara= praising hara or Anana- hara= face like hara.
Does not give any indication to any constellation in the name.
20. apAsya= disregarded/abandoned.
apazya= not seeing or not able to see.
If we take the second word, it means it is a very faint star and not able to see easily.
21. su-puSAn= excellent sun.
However, words like puSya or pauSa are related to this word puSan.
puSya/pauSa= constellation puSya corresponding to γ, δ and θ Cancri, in the Cancer (constellation).
22. I have doubt about the first symbol as I am not able to identify which bird it is but assuming that it is the fat bird with the sound "w s" or the word vasA= fat,
the meaning becomes, garbha-vAsa- dvitiyA= staying/abiding/dwelling in the womb of wife/spouse/companion= becoming pregnant. It indicates under this constellation, good chances of becoming pregnant but does not mention any particular constellation as such.
23. dhaTa= Sign of the zodiac Libra.
24. sapta tri divpada= seven man -star = saptarSi= Seven stars of the constellation URSA MAJOR REPRESENTING SEVEN RISI.
25. ravi-yAma= co-ordinates/chariot/path of the Sun. This also does not give us much information about the constellation or name of the star.
Here I am taking the full word for the seated Lion.
This Post is getting longer and will continue when I come back in the new year. Till then Happy new year to all of you.
