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Cynosure

Source: here.

For some reason I used the word cynosure. The muni and I had a brief discussion on this word some time ago. It appears the the word cynosure is from the name tail of Canis Major (cynos-ura). This construct seems to be an archaic Indo-European word because we encounter a similar set of words as the names of the sons of the fallen bhArgava ajigarta. The most famous of them was the bhArgava R^iShi shunaHshepa Ajigarti who later became devarAta vaishvAmitra. He amongst other mantras composed the celebrated vAravantIya. The power of the vAranvantIya is indescribable. The fury of vaishvAnara can only be channelized by the vAravantIya.

But we have a problem: cynosure means the focus or center of all attraction. In the heavens this is not the tail of Canis Major but the tail of Ursa Minor. This makes one wonder if Ursa Minor was once called a dog and the name of the Ajigarti was after all dhruva, the nail on the world axis.