Punarvasu (पुनर्वसु)

Punarvasu asterism consisting of four stars, the brightest ones being alpha and beta Geminorum.

Punarvasu, 7th Nakshatra, mapped to the Stellarium star chart.

Punarvasu (पुनर्वसु), "the twin-restorers of goods", is an Indian name, used by the Indian Vedic tradition. Most of these names are roughly 3000 years old. They pre-date Hinduism but were taken over by it.

Etymology and History

Name Variants

• Punarvasu (the two restorers),
• Yamakau ("the two chariots")
• Aditerbha

Tibet nakshatra 05

Origin of Constellation

The name of the constellations is grammatically a dual, so it points to two similar stars/ asterisms. This way, it equals the idea of the Greco-Roman and Mesopotamian Twin-constellation where two bright stars head two similar, parallel chains of stars.

4 stars: α, β Geminorum are certain; the other two might be ε, ζ Gem

Mythology

mnemonic tales and cultural significance

References

• References (general)