Word origin · etymology
Sanskrit compound mṛga + śiras or śīrṣa.
Mṛga denotes a wild animal, especially a deer or antelope; śiras and śīrṣa denote the head. The dictionary records Mṛgaśiras, Mṛgaśirā and Mṛgaśīrṣa as forms of the mansion name, explaining the range of English spellings.
Monier-Williams (1899): mṛgaśiras / mṛgaśīrṣa — University of Hyderabad digital edition ↗
How we know · epistemology
Lexical attestation, ritual tradition and a stated coordinate convention
The compound’s components and animal-head representation are attested in the dictionary; its deity identity is named in the hymn. Curiosity is an interpretive use of that imagery, not a measured trait that follows from a Moon longitude.
Monier-Williams (1899): mṛgaśiras / mṛgaśīrṣa — University of Hyderabad digital edition ↗Taittiriya Nakshatra Sukta — Sanskrit text, Rajagopal Iyer transcription ↗
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