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Bharadvaja
Bharadvaja (Sanskrit: भारद्वाज, IAST: Bharadvāja; also spelled
Bharadwaja) was one of the revered Vedic sages (maharishi) in Bharadvaja
Ancient India. He was a renowned scholar, economist, grammarian
and physician. He is one of the Saptarishis (seven great sages or
Maharṣis).[2]

His contributions to ancient Indian literature, specifically the Rig

Veda, provide significant insight into ancient Indian society.[3][4][5]
He and his family of students are considered the authors of the sixth
book of the Rigveda.[6] In the epic Mahabharata, Bharadwaja was
the father of the teacher (Guru) Droṇācārya,[7] the instructor to
Pandava and Kaurava princes. Bharadwaja is also mentioned in
Charaka Samhita, an authoritative ancient Indian medical text.

Contents
History
An early 19th-century painting
Texts
showing Bharadvaja
Epics and Puranic scriptures
Personal
Rāmāyaṇa
Religion Hinduism
Notes
Children Drona
References
Bibliography Garga
Ilavida
Katyayani
History Shrutavati

His full name in Vedic texts is Bharadvaja Barhaspatya, the last Parents Brihaspati (father)
name referring to his father and Vedic deity-sage Brihaspati. His Mammata (mother)[1]
mother was Mamata, wife of Utathya Rishi who was the elder
brother of Barhaspati.[1] He is one of the seven rishis mentioned four times in the Rigveda as well as in
the Shatapatha Brahmana, thereafter revered in the Mahabharata and the Puranas.[8] In some later
Puranic legends, he is stated to be the son of Vedic sage Atri.[3]

In Buddhist Pali canonical texts such as Digha Nikaya, Tevijja Sutta describes a discussion between the
Buddha and Vedic scholars of his time. The Buddha names ten rishis, calls them "early sages" and
makers of ancient verses that have been collected and chanted in his era, and among those ten rishis is
Bharadvaja.[2][9][note 1]

The ancient Hindu medical treatise Charaka Samhita attributes Bharadvaja learning medical sciences
from god Indra, after pleading that "poor health was disrupting the ability of human beings from
pursuing their spiritual journey", and then Indra provides both the method and specifics of medical
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knowledge.[10][11]

The word Bharadvaja is a compound Sanskrit from "bhara(d) and vaja(m)", which together mean
"bringing about nourishment".[12]

Bharadvaja is considered to be the initiator of the Bharadvāja gotra of the Brahmin or Bhumihar
caste.[5] Bharadvaja is the third in the row of the Pravara Rishis (Aangirasa, Barhaspatya,
Bharadvaja) and is the first in the Bharadvaja Gotris, with the other two rishis also being initiators of
Gotras with their respective names.

Texts
Bharadvaja and his family of students are 55.[13] Bharadvaja and his family of students were the
traditional poets of king Marutta of the Vedic era, in the Hindu texts.[14]

Bharadvaja is a revered sage in the Hindu traditions, and like other revered sages, numerous treatises
composed in the ancient and medieval eras are reverentially named after him. Some treatises named
after him or attributed to him include:

Dhanur-veda, credited to Bharadvaja in chapter 12.203 of the Mahabharata, is an Upaveda treatise

on archery.[15]
Bharadvaja samhita, a Pancharatra text (an Agama text of Vaishnavism).[16]
Bharadvaja srautasutra and grhyasutra, a ritual and rites of passage text from 1st millennium
BCE.[17][18][19] After the Kalpasutra by Baudhayana, these Bharadvaja texts are among the oldest
srauta and grhya sutras known.[20]
Sections in Ayurveda. Bharadvaja theories on medicine and causal phenomenon is described in
Charaka Samhita. Bharadvaja states, for example, that an embryo is not caused by wish, prayers,
urging of mind or mystical causes, but it is produced from the union of a man's sperm and menstrual
blood of a woman at the right time of her menstrual cycle, in her womb.[21][22] According to Gerrit Jan
Meulenbeld, Bharadvaja is credited with many theories and practical ideas in ancient Indian
medicine.[22]
Niti sastra, a treatise on ethics and practical conduct.[23]
Bharadvaja-siksa, is one of many ancient Sanskrit treatises on phonetics.[24]

Epics and Puranic scriptures

According to one legend, Bharadvaja married Susheela and had a
son named Garga and a daughter named Devavarshini. According to
some other legends, Bharadvaja had two daughters named Ilavida
and Katyayani, who married Vishrava and Yajnavalkya
respectively.[25] According to Vishnu Purana, Bharadwaja had a
brief liaison with an apsara named Ghritachi, and together they had
a child who grew up into a warrior-Brahmin named Droṇācārya.
While in Mahabharata, Drona is born when Bharadwaja ejaculated
his semen in a pot. Bharadwaja is therefore directly linked to two An 18th-century painting of Śrī
important characters of the epic Mahabharata — Dronacharya and Rāma, Sītā and Lakṣmaṇa with
Aśvatthāma, the son of Dronacharya.[26] According to the sage Bharadvāja

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Mahabharata, Bharadvaja trained Drona in the use of weapons.[27] Bharadwaja had two disciples:
Agnivesa and Drupada. Agnivesa taught Drona the mastery of the weapon Agneya, while Drupad became
the king of Panchala kingdom.

Rāmāyaṇa

In the epic Ramayana, Rama, Sita and Lakshmana meet Bharadvaja at his asrama (hermitage) at the
start of their fourteen-year exile. The sage asks them to stay with him through the exile, but they insist
on going deeper into the forest to Chitrakuta which is three kos away from the ashram. Bharadvaja gives
them directions. Also, Bharath along with Sumanth received at Ashram by Bharadvaja while Bharath
went on to the forest in search of Lord Ram for a re-union and to bring Lord Rama, Sita and Laxmana
back to Ayodhya.[28] He reappears at various times in the epic. According to James Lochtefeld, the
Bharadvaja in the Ramayana is different from the Vedic sage mentioned in Panini's Ashtadhyayi.[29]

Notes
1. The Buddha names the following as "early sages" of Vedic verses, "Atthaka (either Ashtavakra or
Atri), Vamaka, Vamadeva, Vessamitta (Visvamitra), Yamataggi, Angirasa, Bharadvaja, Vasettha
(Vashistha), Kassapa (Kashyapa) and Bhagu (Bhrigu)".[9]

References
1. Roshen Dalal (2010). Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide (https://books.google.com/books?id=DH0vm
D8ghdMC). Penguin Books. pp. 86–87. ISBN 978-0-14-341421-6.
2. Sanjana, Darab Dastur Peshotan (1898). "17. Gotama in the Avesta" (https://doi.org/10.1017%2Fs00
35869x00025417). Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain. Cambridge University Press.
30 (2): 391–394. doi:10.1017/s0035869x00025417 (https://doi.org/10.1017%2Fs0035869x0002541
7).
3. George M. Williams (2008). Handbook of Hindu Mythology (https://books.google.com/books?id=N7L
OZfwCDpEC&pg=PA82). Oxford University Press. pp. 82–83. ISBN 978-0-19-533261-2.
4. Roshen Dalal (2010). Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide (https://books.google.com/books?id=DH0vm
D8ghdMC). Penguin Books. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-14-341421-6.
5. Barbara A. Holdrege (2012). Veda and Torah: Transcending the Textuality of Scripture (https://books.
google.com/books?id=YlvikndgEmIC&pg=PA657). State University of New York Press. pp. 229, 657.
ISBN 978-1-4384-0695-4., Quote: "Bharadvaja (Vedic seer)..."
6. Stephanie Jamison; Joel Brereton (2014). The Rigveda: 3-Volume Set (https://books.google.com/bo
oks?id=fgzVAwAAQBAJ). Oxford University Press. pp. 1680–1681. ISBN 978-0-19-972078-1.
7. http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/vp/vp076.htm
8. Barbara A. Holdrege (2012). Veda and Torah: Transcending the Textuality of Scripture (https://books.
google.com/books?id=YlvikndgEmIC&pg=PA657). State University of New York Press. pp. 229–230,
243–244. ISBN 978-1-4384-0695-4.
9. Maurice Walshe (2005). The Long Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Digha Nikaya (http
s://books.google.com/books?id=Uj86AwAAQBAJ). Simon and Schuster. pp. 188–189. ISBN 978-0-
86171-979-2.
10. Ariel Glucklich (2008). The Strides of Vishnu: Hindu Culture in Historical Perspective. Oxford
University Press. pp. 141–142. ISBN 978-0-19-531405-2.
11. Kaviratna & Sharma 1913, pp. ii–iii, 1–3 (Volume 1 of 5).

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12. Thaneswar Sharma (1991). The Bharadvājas in Ancient India (https://books.google.com/books?id=x

Fyu7MANWPAC). Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 58–60. ISBN 978-81-208-0639-9.
13. Stephanie Jamison; Joel Brereton (2014). The Rigveda: 3-Volume Set (https://books.google.com/bo
oks?id=fgzVAwAAQBAJ). Oxford University Press. pp. 1691–1693. ISBN 978-0-19-972078-1.
14. Brereton, Joel P. (1993). "The Bharadvajas in Ancient India". The Journal of the American Oriental
Society. 113 (4): 599–600.
15. Barbara A. Holdrege (2012). Veda and Torah: Transcending the Textuality of Scripture (https://books.
google.com/books?id=YlvikndgEmIC&pg=PA657). State University of New York Press. p. 504 note
177. ISBN 978-1-4384-0695-4.
16. Surendranath Dasgupta (1940). A History of Indian Philosophy, Volume III (https://books.google.com/
books?id=l-TCIGuP9YIC&pg=PA379). Cambridge University Press. p. 379. ISBN 978-0-521-04780-
7.
17. Thaneswar Sharma (1991). The Bharadvājas in Ancient India (https://books.google.com/books?id=x
Fyu7MANWPAC&pg=PA253). Motilal Banarsidass. p. 253 note 17a. ISBN 978-81-208-0639-9.
18. Adam Bowles (2007). Dharma, Disorder and the Political in Ancient India: The Āpaddharmaparvan of
the Mahābhārata (https://books.google.com/books?id=9MOwCQAAQBAJ). BRILL Academic. pp. xiii
(see: BhaGS). ISBN 978-90-474-2260-0.
19. A. Berriedale Keith (1914), Reviewed Work: Bhāradvāja Gṛhya Sütra by Henriette J. W. Salomons (h
ttps://www.jstor.org/stable/25189257), The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and
Ireland, Cambridge University Press, pp. 1078–1089
20. Moriz Winternitz; V. Srinivasa Sarma (1996). A History of Indian Literature (https://books.google.com/
books?id=JRfuJFRV_O8C). Motilal Banarsidass. p. 259. ISBN 978-81-208-0264-3.
21. D. Wujastyk (2003). The Roots of Ayurveda: Selections from Sanskrit Medical Writings (https://book
s.google.com/books?id=TaZCwjtmzZYC&pg=PA51). Penguin Books. pp. 51–53. ISBN 978-0-14-
044824-5.
22. Gerrit Jan Meulenbeld (1999). A History of Indian Medical Literature (https://books.google.com/book
s?id=wbwrAAAAYAAJ). E. Forsten. pp. 152–155. ISBN 978-90-6980-124-7.
23. Gerrit Jan Meulenbeld (1999). A History of Indian Medical Literature (https://books.google.com/book
s?id=wbwrAAAAYAAJ). E. Forsten. p. 153. ISBN 978-90-6980-124-7.
24. Moriz Winternitz; V. Srinivasa Sarma (1996). A History of Indian Literature (https://books.google.com/
books?id=JRfuJFRV_O8C&pg=PA266). Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 266 with footnotes. ISBN 978-81-
208-0264-3.
25. Gopal, Madan (1990). K.S. Gautam (ed.). India through the ages (https://archive.org/details/indiathro
ughages00mada). Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of
India. p. 76 (https://archive.org/details/indiathroughages00mada/page/76).
26. Vishnu Purana -Drauni or Asvathama as Next saptarishi (http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/vp/vp076.
htm) Retrieved 2015-02-15
27. Ganguly The Mahabharata (http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/maha/) Retrieved 2015-02-15
28. Ramesh Menon (2004). The Ramayana: A Modern Retelling of the Great Indian Epic (https://books.g
oogle.com/books?id=aWFEAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA109). Macmillan. pp. 109–110. ISBN 978-0-86547-
695-0.
29. James G. Lochtefeld (2002). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: A-M (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=5kl0DYIjUPgC&pg=PA102). The Rosen Publishing Group. p. 102. ISBN 978-0-8239-
3179-8.

Bibliography
Kaviratna, Avinash C.; Sharma, P. (1913). The Charaka Samhita 5 Vols (http://catalog.hathitrust.org/
Record/002074393). Sri Satguru Publications. ISBN 81-7030-471-7.
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