The Arabic name for Alioth is Al-Jawn (1), "The black horse". Risalioth is a variation.
Alyat [the syllable Al, in this word Alyat, is not the Arabic definite article] the "Fat Tail" of "the Eastern sheep".
Al Hawar, the "White of the Eye", or the "White Poplar Tree", i.e. "Intensely Bright".
It was Angiras (or Angirasa, Angirasas) among the Hindu Seven Sages. The name Angiras comes from the same root as Agni, fire; many of his functions are associated with fire. Angiras inspires the lawgivers, is an author on astronomy, and is often considered a personification of Brihaspati, the regent of the planet Jupiter, or the planet itself. Aurobindo ascribes to Angiras the role of the revealer of divine enlightenment.
This star is located on the Bear's tail which occurred when Jupiter lay hold of the tails of the two bears, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, and lifted them up into the heavens by their tails. On the long journey, the tails stretched which explains why these bears have long tails unlike earthly bears.
Ursa Major has been called "the Bear with her train," referring to the stars epsilon (Alioth, this star), zeta (Mizar), and eta (Alkaid) which mark the tail. These three stars along the tail have been depicted as three draught-horses in line, pulling the Plough. "The Plough", also called "the Big Dipper" which is the bucket shaped figure in the back of the Great Bear, outlined by the stars; beta (Merak), alpha (Dubhe), gamma (Phecda) and delta (Megrez).
These three stars in the tail of the Great Bear were also portrayed by the Arabs as "Mourners" around a Bier or coffin (bear and bier come from the same root word). The bier was marked by the Plough or Big Dipper stars as named above. The coffin was followed by "Mourners" (the three stars in the tail; Alioth, Mizar, and Alkaid), as in the Arabic Banat Na'ash al Kubra, "the Daughters of the Great Bier", and this constellation was seen as a funeral procession, attributing this title to the nightly slow and solemn motion of the figure around the pole. These mourners, the children of Al Na'ash, who was murdered by Al Jadi, the pole-star (Polaris), are still nightly surrounding him in their thirst for vengeance. |
