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12. * The Pleiades and the Seven Sages*

In the Indus script, numerals are marked by repeating a short vertical
stroke the required number of times. The pictograms of 'six' (six short
strokes divided to two lines) and (on its left side) 'fish' together
form a syntactic unit (Fig. 13f). <parpola9.html> It corresponds to the
compound aru-meen 'six-star' occurring in Old Tamil texts and denoting
the asterism of the Pleiades. This constellation was the first one in
the ancient Indian star calendar whose conjunction with the sun at the
vernal equinox marked the new year around the 23rd century B.C.	
20. <parpola15.html#20> The six or seven ladies (the Pleiades?) on an
Indus seal.

The Pleiades hold a prominent place as the mothers or wet nurses of the
newborn infant in one of the most ancient and central Hindu myths, that
of the birth of the war-god Rudra/Skanda, who evidently represents,
among other things, the victorious rising sun (and as vernal sun the new
year). The Pleiades are said to have been the wives of the seven sages,
who are identified with the seven stars of the Great Bear.

21. <parpola15.html#21> Inscription on seal from Harappa.

	The Great Bear's Old Tamil name elu-meen 'seven-star' corresponds to
the combination of the pictograms '7' + 'fish', which alone constitutes
the entire text of one finely carved Indus seal (Fig. 21).

The Satapatha-Brahmana (2,1,2,4) states that the six Pleiades were
separated from their husbands on account of their infidelity; other
texts specify that only one of the seven wives, Arundhati, remained
faithful and was allowed to stay with her husband: she is the small star
Alcor in the Great Bear, pointed out as a paradigm of marital virtue to
the bride in the Vedic marriage ceremonies.

Evidence for the Harappan origin of this myth is provided, among other
things, by Indus seals which show a row of six or seven human figures
(Fig. 20, 22); their female character is suggested by the one long plait
of hair, which to the present day has remained characteristic of the
Indian ladies. 	
22. <parpola15.html#22> Amulet from
Mohenjo-daro


 
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