Kamasutra 2.10.9 and a question of astronomy

[Lars Martin Fosse]

Dear members of the list!
 
The KS 2.10.9 contains the following sentence:
 
arundhatIdhruvasaptarSimAlAdarzanaM ca | ("and he shows her Arundhati, the
Pole Star, and the garland of the Seven Sages (the Great Bear")
 
The commentary says about arundhatI: 
 
iyamarundhatI bhagavatI sUkSmA ya enAM na pazyati sa SaNmAsAn mriyate |
("This is the divine Arundhati, exceedingly small. He who does not see her,
he dies within six months.")
 
I see three different translations of ArundhatI: Richard Schmidt: "Alcor";
Mylius: "die Pleiaden"; Doniger: "the Pleiades".
 
I can see no reason why ArundhatI should be translated die Pleiaden/the
Pleiades, and neither Doniger nor Mylius give a reason for their
translation. It would seem to me that Schmidt is right, particularly because
of the commentary: Alcor is very small, with its twin star, Mizar, it is
usually taken as a test of minimal vision. 
 
Could any of you explain to me why Mylius and Doniger translate ArundhatI
with the Pleiades? I assume that there must be a reason, but it escapes me.
 
Lars Martin Fosse
 

From:
Dr.art. Lars Martin Fosse
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E-mail:  <mailto:lmfosse at chello.no> lmfosse at chello.no
http://www.linguistfinder.com/translators.asp?id=2164