One of the name for the planet Jupiter in varAhamihira is jIva. It is derived from the Greek vocative for Zeus. It is used as synonym for the Indo-Aryan bR^ihaspati by him: influence of yavana-jAtaka. The same is used for bR^ihaspati even in the archaic skandapurANa. Suggesting
gupta age redaction. In the skandapurANa jIva says ushanas is more knowledgeable than him but can be careless due to his recklessness and pride. I suspect this is a tacit admission of Venus being brighter than Jupiter. Interestingly, jIva arrays the daiva army in the shyenavyUha
shukra tells the daitya-s led by hiraNyAkSha that he would array them in the crescent formation to cut off the head of the shyenavyUha where yama is leading the van of the daiva host. I wonder if this is a cryptic allusion to the crescent phase of Venus when it is the brightest
This reference to vyUha-rachana by bR^ihaspati and shukra is not just for story-building. It is an allusion to an ancient tradition that is remembered by chANakya in the mauryan age. chANakya states that bR^ihaspati had held that an army should be arrayed thus:
पक्षौ कक्षाव् उरस्यं प्रतिग्रह इति बार्हस्पत्यः । 2 wings backed up by 2flanking corps, a center & a reserve (at rear separated by 400 bow lengths) is the theory of bR^ihaspati. पक्षाव् उरस्यं प्रतिग्रह इत्य् औशनस व्यूह-विभागः । 2 wings a center& reserves [at rear] is shukra's
1 can see that bR^ihaspati was likely over-engineering his formation. He backs up the wings by 2 additional corps that could potentially rotate with them, or shoot from behind them to stiffen their advance. Such as formation but with two pratigraha-s was deployed even by the
monstrous Mohammedan tyrant Timur in his attacks. Thus, I suspect when the purANa says that shukra is reckless it is alluding to his lighter vyUha that might have depended on mobility to encircle parts of the rival army. chandragupta like adopted the bArhaspatya strategy against
the Macedonians and the tyrannical nanda-s of magadha. Finally, it may also be noted that after arraying the devasenA bR^ihaspati is said to have recited the AV mantra-s for their protection and victory.
