Mahabharata Quiz - 105

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Question – 105

Has it ever been recorded in any Bharatheeya text that Arundhati (Alcor) was accompanied with a red dwarf star circulating it?

Answer:

There are Bharatheeya records for Arundhati looking dim or reddish on different occasions. These appearances can happen if the dwarf companion of Arundhati comes in front of it facing the earth.

The reference to red colour for Arundhati comes from the Tamil Sangam text, Paditru Patthu (31- lines 28, 29), wherein the star Arundhati is mentioned as ‘Red star’ – because it was red in colour! (Chemeen செம்மீன்). In normal times, it does not look red. The inference is that when this poem was composed, it appeared red. This must have happened before the Common Era when this poem was composed.

Whenever the dwarf star comes in front of Arundhati, it hinders the brightness of Arundhati, making her look smoky. This was once sighted by the sages who personified Arundhati getting rebuked by her husband. Such an event is told by the sage Mandapala in the Mahabharata. Even though Arundhati was good to her husband, she once insulted him. As a result, she has become a little star, like fire mixed with smoke, sometimes visible and sometimes invisible, like an omen portending bad things, say the Mahabharata (1-224- 27 to 29)

The exact verse is reproduced below:

suvratāpi hi kalyāṇī sarvalokapariśrutā

     arundhatī paryaśaṅkad vasiṣṭham ṛṣisattamam

 viśuddhabhāvam atyantaṃ sadā priyahite ratam

     saptarṣimadhyagaṃ vīram avamene ca taṃ munim

 apadhyānena sā tena dhūmāruṇa samaprabhā

     lakṣyālakṣyā nābhirūpā nimittam iva lakṣyate

The last verse describes the appearance of the star as ‘Nābhirūpā’ – looking like the navel! The navel is characterized by the depression at the centre. The star had looked smoky, thereby dim with its disc appearing like a concave depression. At times the star was visible and not visible. The sage Mandapala to whom this verse is attributed, had said that such appearances are treated as nimitta!

This verse that she was even invisible at times must not be construed as though she disappeared into nowhere. In reality she did not. There were scientific reasons for that invisibility - which was attributable to the companion dwarf star hiding her. Once the dwarf moved away she started becoming visible in her original brightness. So her invisibility or looking red and smoky is only temporary and well within scientific reasons. Therefore the differences in her appearance are always treated as a nimitta by the sages. 

In the similar way, she being sighted in front of Vasishta is not a real occurrence but a temporary aberration which must have a scientific explanation.