“I Give You a Star!” the Wonders of the Folk Astronomy of the Indian Himalayas

Abstract

The essay tells about the author’s experience in collecting data on vernacular astronomy of the peoples of India. The attention is paid to the mythological motif about the origin of meteors – “shooting stars”, which is widespread in two Himalayan states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and attempts to find out which element of local flora or fauna is associated in the popular mind with the stars that have fallen to the earth.