infully aware. "In earliest Northern
India the star nearest the pole was known as Grahadhara, 'the pivot
of the planets,' representing the great god Dhruva, and Al Biruni
said that among the Hindus of his time it was Dhruva himself. It was
an object of their worship" (p. 456).

In Bournouf's Bhagavata-purana (chap. IV) it is said that "Dhruva,
meditating on Brahma, stood on one foot, motionless as a post; while
he did so half the world, wounded by his big toe, bent over under
his weight like a boat which, bearing a vigorous elephant, leans at
each step he takes, from left to right." O'Neil, citing the same
source continues: "In consequence of his austerities Bhagavat said
'I grant thee virtuous Child, a Spot which has never yet been
occupied by any being, a Spot blazing with splendor, of which the
ground is firm, where is fixed the circus of the celestial lights,
of the planets, constellations and stars; which turn all around like
oxen round their stake, and which [the Spot] subsists motionless
even after the Dwellers of a Kalpa [a day and night of Brahma _i.
e._ 4,320,000,000 years] have disappeared. Around this Spot there
turn with the stars and leaving it on their right, Dharma, Agni,
Kasyapa and Sakra and the Solitaries who live in the Forest' ..."
(p. 801). According to the Vishnu-purana: "As Dhruva turns, he
causes sun, moon and other planets to turn round also, and the lunar
asterisms follow in his circular course, for all the celestial
lights are in fact bound to the Polar star by aerial cords"
(Vishnu-purana, see O'Neil, p. 503). It is instructive to compare
these descriptions of Dhruva with the Akkadian-Sumerian hymn to
Ishtar, whom I have identified as the female form of Polaris (p.
342). According to Professor Sayce it begins: "Thou who as the axis
of the heavens dawnest. In the dwellings of the earth her name
revolves" (O'Neil, p. 715).

O'Neil further notes that "Dhruva is named the sun of Uttana-Pada"
and that this name is connected with uttarat=north and also
signifies outstretched, supine. He also states that "Uttara and
Uttara was the dual god of the north, the son and daughter of
Virata, and expresses the opinion that the age of the Dhruva legend
is unutterable" (p. 503).

According to a