Written by London Swaminathan

swami_48@yahoo.com

 Date: 1 SEPTEMBER 2019

British Summer Time uploaded in London – 19-15

Post No. 6965

Pictures are taken from various sources; this is a non- commercial, educational blog; posted in swamiindology.blogspot.com and tamilandvedas.com simultaneously. Average hits per day for both the blogs 12,000.

Hindus are the first race to give divine status to stars. They gave the little boy Dhruva’s name to Pole star. They named the Ursa Major (Great Bear) constellation after Seven Great Hindu seers. And they named the double star system in it after Vaishtha and Arundhati. Every newly married Hindu couple must see the Vaishtha- Arundhati  star system before they enter the First Night room. 27 stars in the zodiac have stories from Hindu mythology.

But the wonder is that they named some stars in the Southern Sky also after some Hindu seers and Kings. The Southern Cross is named after the King Tri Sanku. And the Canopus is named after the great seer Agastya. Agastya will beat 100 Columbuses and 1000 Captain Cooks. He did incredible jobs of laying road route via the mighty Vindhya mountains and crossed the Indian ocean to establish Hindu rule in South East Asia. These incredible feats were made mythological stories ‘Agastya drinking ocean’ and ‘Agastya belittling Vidhya mountains’. tamilandvedas.com, swamiindology.blogspot.com

But my latest research is about how and why they did name Southern Cross and Canopus after Trisanku and Agastya respectively. Sapta Rishi and Pole star cant be seen by people living in Southern most part of Australia. And in the same way Indians living in Northern most part of India cant see Trisanku and Canopus. Then how come the Bhagavatha Purana and other Puranas talk about Trisanku and the star system. Hindu scriptures praise Viswamitra creating new heaven (star system).This shows the seers can go above the earth and see the star system. Sanskrit and Tamil literature talk about seers using the sky route (Gagana Marga).

Some may say that the people in the south might have added Trisanku and Agastya star stories in Hindu mythology, because the star system cant be seen by the northern most people. Even that shows that India was one country from North to South. This will explode the myth of British uniting India. More over 2000 year old Sangam Tamil literature is also talking about one county – From the Himalayas to Kanyakumari.

So Trisanku- Agastya Stories illustrate two points:

1.Puranic writers know southern hemisphere and the stars visible there. They gave divine status to Southern stars also.

2.Even before British arrived in India, the country was considered one.

Latest Interpretation-

One article in the book ‘Facets of Vedic Culture’ give new interpretation to Tri Sanku and Agastya stories. The interpretation is based on the Big Hindu Numerals Sanku and Jaladhi.

Who was Trisanku?

Tri sanku was a great king of solar dynasty. When he was nagging his teacher/Guru Vasishtha to send him to heaven with his human body he refused. When the king abused the Guru, he was cursed by him. Then the cursed king approached another seer Visvamitra. He sent Tri Sanku to heaven with his power. But the Devas in the heaven rejected him and pushed him down to earth. Visvamitra stopped him half way through the sky. This is called Southern Cross by westerners because it looks like hanging cross. It is found in the flags of Australia, New Zealand, Samoa, Brazil and Papua New Guinea. Hindus are using Tri Sanku Swarga as a phrase for any half- finished or unfinished task. tamilandvedas.com, swamiindology.blogspot.com

Here is the the interpretation:-