The Indian soil has birthed many Vedic rishis who transcended ordinary human intellect and knowledge by means of 'tapas' and could therefore see deep cosmic truths.
Some prominent names are Vishvamitra, Vasishtha, Bharadvaja, Vamadeva, Atri, Grtsamada, Dirghatamas, Gotama, Parashara, Kashyapa, Kanva and others. The ancient ancestors of these rishis were Angira, Bhrigu, Atharva and Trita Aptya.
The Rig Veda mentions Romasha, Lopamudra, Apala, Kadru, Visvavara, Ghosha, Juhu, Vagambhrini, Paulomi, Yami, Indrani, Savitri, and Devajami.
The Sama Veda adds Nodha, Akrishtabhasha, Sikatanivavari and Gaupayana. Some prominent women rishis were Apala Atreyi, Ghosha Kakshivati, Lopamudra, Vishvavara, Vak Ambhrni.
The Upanishad rishis who had the same vision of Vedic rishis, but simplified the terminology and pedagogy of the spiritual philosophy. Some prominent names are Uddalaka Aruni, Yajnavalkya, Satyakama Jabala, Upakosala Kamalayana, Janaka, Janashruti, Sayugva Raikva, Pravahana Jaivali, Sanatkumara, Gargi, Maitreyi, and others.
The brilliant rishis who contributed to various fields of knowledge. Some prominent names are Kautilya, Panini, Patanjali, Vararuchi, Yaska, Gautama, Kanada, Sushruta, Jaimini, Kapila, Vatsyayana, Bharatamuni, etc.
The great poets whose immortal works are praised and appreciated all over the world even today. The first poet was Valmiki, Kalidasa, Bhasa, Bhavabhuti, Bharavi, Vishakhadatta, Shudraka, Magha, Dandin, Upavarsha, Harsha, Bana, Kaiyata, Upendra Bhanja, Sarala Das etc.
The great acharyas who wrote commentaries on important works to elucidate the meaning, as well as established significantly new systems of philosophy and religious practive. Some prominent names are Shankara, Ramanuja, Madhva, Nimbarka, Vallabha, Vacaspati Mishra, Mandana Mishra, Sureshvara, Vidyaranya, Sayana, Vedanta Deshika, and others.
Maharishi Veda Vyasa; The genius multi-faceted. Ved Vyasa is not a name, it is a title, the current Ved Vyasa, is Krishna Dwaipayana, the author of the great epic Mahabharata. According to Vishnu Purana, Bhagwan Vishnu himself comes as Ved Vyasa. He is the one who divides the Vedas into parts for the convinience of mankind every Dwapara Yuga. In Mahabharata, he was able to stop the Brahmasira astra hurled by Arjuna and Ashwathamma and had asked them to withdraw it for the good of mankind. He could also see the past and predict the future. This was proved when he was able to tell about the previous birth of Draupadi and the Pandavas to Drupada and when he had hinted his mother Satyawati about the future destruction due to Kurukshetra War. Shri Rama and Shri Krishna, who are complex personalities seen as role models and upholders of Dharma in society. Their influence was so great that they began to be considered direct forms of God.
Maharishi Vashista; is one among the Brahmarishis. He has great knowledge about Mantra yagya vidya. He is the brain child of Brahma Deva. Rig Veda has many mantras written by Maharishi Vasistha. He is even credited for the composition of Saptam Mandala. He was also the Guru of Sri Ram. He is highy revered even by Gods and he was the Guru of the kings of Ikshvaku dynasty. He is also revered as a Prajapati. He had transferred his Brahma energy in his baton which is called Brahma Danda and had nullified all the missiles hurled by Maharishi Vishwamitra at him. He had also given the knowledge of Vedas and other shastras to them. After Bhagwan Sri Ram had killed Ravana and had returned to Ayodhya, he had coronated Bhagwan Sri Ram as the king of Ayodhya and after this Ram Rajya was established.
Maharishi Agastya; was the elder brother of Maharishi Vasistha. He is one among the saptrishis. Devas headed by Devraj Indra had come to him and told him about their problems. The asuras used to hide in seas and hence it had become difficult for them to kill him. Then he drank up an entire sea which helped the Devas in killing all the demons. It was due to him that demons like Illwal and Vatapi were killed. He had done a great service to mankind. He had performed many impossible feats and had done a great service to mankind. He had also given a special Brahma missile to Bhagwan Sri Ram, which he had used to kill Ravana. Bhagwan Sri Ram had visited him during his exile and had made his ascetic life a success.
Maharishi Vishwamitra; was born to the Kshatriya varna but he became a Brahmarishi after a tough penance of thousands of years. The reason of his transformation was his battle with Maharishi Vasistha. When he was a kshatriya he wanted to take away the Kamdhenu cow of Maharishi Vasisth , which the latter refused. The Kamdhenu cow gave rise to many soldiers which defeated the army of Vishwamitra and forced him to retreat. Then he performed a tough penance and impressed Mahadeva, and obtained the knowledge of hurling and withdrawing all the weapons present in the Universe. Then he again went to avenge his defeat at the hands of Maharishi Vasistha but he was defeated again by him as Maharishi Vasistha managed to neutralize all his weapons using his Brahmadanda. Then after this defeat, he performed a very tough penance which Devraj Indra managed to distract by sending Menka. Maharishi Vishwamitra lived with Menka for about ten years and then he realised that she was distracting him from penance. He again started his penance and Devraj Indra too tried various means to distract him but failed every time. He threatened to make a parallel universe. All the Gods including Devraj Indra were shocked and helpless.
Maharishi Bhardwaj; credited with the composition of the sixth Mandal of Rig Veda. He has 765 mantras in this mandal. Even Atharva Veda contains 23 mantras composed by him. He had great knowledge in science too. He had obtained Amrita from Agni with the help of Devraj Indra. According to Santi Parva of Mahabharata, he had great knowledge of Dhanur Veda and he had even preached about it too. He had great knowledge about Ayurveda too.
Shukracharya; was the son of Maharishi Brighu and Mata Kavya. Hence he was the grandson of Brahma Deva as Maharishi Brighu was the son of Brahma Deva. According to Mahabharata, Shukracharya was the Guru of Daityas. He used to live in the kingdom of Asuraraj Vrishpravan. He had a daugher whose name was Daivyani, who was very dear to him. He had the knowledge of Sanjeevani Vidya, which even Brihaspati, the Guru of the Devas lacked. He would use his Sanjeevani Vidya to bring back the dead asuras to life during the Devasura Sangram. Brihaspati had sent his son Kacha to Shukracharya, so that he could learn the Sanjeevani Vidya. Inspite of knowing about this, he accpeted Kacha as his student. The asuras killed Kacha multiple times but Shukracharya would bring him back to life at the request of his daughter Daivyani.
Maharishi Durvasa; was the son of Anusuya and Atri. He is believed to be very short-tempered. According to Puranas, he was born from an ansh of Bhagwan Shiv and had arisen from his Raudra roop. Hence this is the reason for his short-tempered behaviour. Without him Mahabharata would never have occured as he was the one who had given the Mantra to Kunti, with which she had helped obtained her four sons and with her help Madri had obtained her two sons. It is very difficult to impress him. Hence it can be understood that Kunti really had achieved a difficult feat. Inspite of his short-tempered behaviour, he is believed to be very merciful and compassionate. Due to his shot-temperedness, he had cursed many people. He is revered by sages, Gods and humans.
Aghamarsana; was the son of Madhucchandas who was the son of Visvamitra. He is the seer of the Rig Veda hymn 10.190, which is very famous:
ऋतं च सत्यं चाभीद्धात्तपसोऽध्यजायत । ततो रात्र्यजायत ततः समुद्रो अर्णवः। १
समुद्रादर्णवादधि संवत्सरो अजायत । अहोरात्राणि विदधद्विश्वस्य मिषतो वशी । २
सूर्याचन्द्रमसौ धाता यथापूर्वमकल्पयत् । दिवं च पृथिवीं चैवान्तरिक्षमथो स्वः । ३
He generated Cosmic Cyclical Truth (Rtam) and Cosmic Eternal Truth (satyam) through intense concentration (tapas). Then he generated the Cosmic Night, then the Ocean. From the Ocean came the Year. The Controller ordained days and nights for the “blinking” universe. The Creator imagined the Sun and the Moon just as before. And also the heaven and earth and atmosphere, as well as the supreme state of svah. This hymn is important because it shows that the Vedic rishis already thought of the universe and time as cyclical, i.e. recurring in cycles instead of just once in linear fashion. This cyclical notion has informed the entire Hindu philosophy in all areas.
Authored by Anadi Sahoo
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