NAKSHETRA - A POSSIBLE INSPIRATION for the MARINER'S COMPASS
By Deepak Bhattacharya ¹ & P. C. Naik
Edited by Christopher F. Ash

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Apart from Orion is any other constellation a possible source?

Was there any other astral group that could have acted as a source of similar inspiration or as a celestial guide?

We do note that the constellation Chaya Agni (Cygnus), having a 10 to 12 hour gap with Orion, also offers a similar, four-directional cross. It was located at the pole around 17,000 B.C. and was visually aligned with latitude +20 degrees around 9000 B.C. to 12,000 B.C. and, prior to this, around 36,000 B.C to 35,000 B.C..

Chaya Agni (a cygni) is associated with the Vaishnava aspect of Hindu iconography and shares a one to one correspondence with the world heritage monument of Konarak (which is dedicated to Vaishnava, God Sun - Maitreyi and Chaya Devi). This monument bears, in stone archaeology, many characteristics of direction and time measuring devices.

At Bhubaneswar, around the site of b Orionis, are located a few deep, low-base monuments which may be connected (by imaginary lines) to form a similar pattern as that of the constellation Cygnus. e Cygnus appears as a conjunction of stars, its corresponding member monument is the deep-located, open-air, jointed Siva Lingas (only one specimen). The stars have a north to south orientation, and so too does the jointed Lingas! It is located just outside the precinct wall at the southeast corner of a Orionis (Lingaraj) site and is called Bappa O Maa (Father and Mother of Lingaraj).

Apart from this, It remains to be seen whether there could be any other better or similar source and format that might have provided inspiration.

Apart from the Kalingan, Any Other Race?

Possibly, yes.

In the archaeological models that we have studied, one other model presents some close affinity: the Vikings. The possibility of an intra-maritime race connection cannot be denied at this stage. The possible archaeological model of the Viking's signature will be discussed in another paper.¹³

Footnotes:

13. The authors further note that the ancient Buddhists were also sea-faring. Delta Orissa has three very ancient Buddhist sites, all located beside all-weather drainage. Ancient Kalingans were also Buddhist in great numbers. Three sites in particular are the World-famous Ratnagiri, Udaigiri and Lalitgiri, located (as the crow flies) some 40 to 50 kilometers to northeast of Ekamra (present-day Bhubaneswar). Amazingly, the locations of these three sites form an isoceles triangle in seeming reflection of celestial, isoceles "Diamond Triangle" composed of alpha Lyra , alpha Vega and alpha Cygnus (though there is a marginal mis-match in orientation that may be due to proper motion in star position). In Siddhanta ( Hindu astronomy), this Diamond triangle is refered to as "Hirak Tribhuja." However, the triangle is no match for a nine-pointed compass. One possible conclusion: Sea-voyages assisted by stellar methodology is of non-Buddhist origin (better assistance is avilable if Nakshatra is relied upon) but the Buddhists themselves built three heritage destinations; (1) Kalinga ( Kangi in sino - Japanese texts ) (2) Sri Lanka and (3) S E Asian Archipelago ( Borrobudur ). These three also form a near isoceles triangle.