Note 271 — Chapter I

With the exception that some people believe that the stars are the abodes of the gods,271 the popular belief about the heavenly bodies seems to be that they are the souls of virtuous and saintly persons, translated to the heavens for their good deeds and endowed with a lustre proportionate to their merits.272 And this idea is illustrated in the traditions that are current about some of the stars. The seven bright stars of the constellation Saptarshi (or the Great Bear) are said to be the seven sages, Kashyapa, Atri, Bhāradwāj, Vishwāmitra, Gautama, Jāmadagni and Vasishtha, who had mastered several parts of the Vedas, and were considered specialists in the branches studied by each, and were invested with divine honours in reward for their proficiency.273 Another story relates how a certain hunter and his family, who had unconsciously achieved great religious merit, were installed as the constellation Saptarshi274 (or the Great Bear). A hunter, it is narrated in the Shivarātri-māhātmya, was arrested for debt on a Shivrātri275 day, and while in jail heard by chance the words ‘Shiva, Shiva’ repeated by some devotees. Without understanding their meaning, he also began to repeat the same words, even after he was released in the evening. He had received no food during the day, and had thus observed a compulsory fast. In order to obtain food for himself and his family, he stationed himself behind a Bel276 tree, hoping to shoot a deer or some other animal that might come to quench its thirst at a neighbouring tank. While adjusting an arrow to his bowstring, he plucked some leaves out of the thick foliage of the tree and threw them down. The leaves, however, chanced to fall on a Shiva-linga which happened to stand below, and secured for him the merit of having worshipped god Shiva with Bel-leaves on a Shivrātri day. He was also all the while repeating the god’s name and had undergone a fast. The result was that not only were his past sins forgiven, but he was placed with his family in heaven.277