Avatsara

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Avatsara (

Sukta 44 of the Fifth Mandala.[1][2]

Work

Avatsara is the main poet of

Sandilya variations.[6]There are eight notable sages belonging to the Kashyapa family – Kashyapa, Avatsara, Nidhruva, Rebha, Devala, Asita, Bhutamsa, and Vivrha; two unnamed sons of Rebha were also authors of Rigvedic hymns.[7]

He is more known for the Suktas 53 to 60 of the Ninth Mandala; these Suktas contain four mantras each, all composed in the Gayatri Metre. In the Rigveda, he addresses Ishvara as, "the fully armed and endowed with many subtle and fine divine powers and destroyer of all evil forces" (RV.IX.53.1). He then addresses Ishvara as, "the purifier or the pure, brilliant as the Sun".[8]

His name appears in the

Kausitaki Brahmana. From the verses of the Aitareya Brahmana (A.B. ii.24) and Kausitaki Brahmana (K.B.viii.6), both pertaining to the Sacrifice of the Five Oblations, it is stated that Avatsara had reached the home of Agni and had conquered the highest world.[10]

In Rigveda Sukta IX.53, he reminds us that the learned people extract the wisdom of the ancients from the Vedas which are enlightening, and in Rigveda mantra IX.60.3 he states that the Lord, in the form of knowledge and consciousness, resides in the cleansed mind and heart of the learned people and in the mind and heart of all those who know the Lord fully without being aware of knowing Him.[11]

Genealogy

Avatsara is described to be the son of Kashyapa, who whose lifetime was later than Vamadeva (son of Maharishi Gautama), but earlier than Atri.[12] The word, Avata, denotes an artificially dug up water-source or an artificial well.[13][14]

Apart from Kashyapa, the son of Marichi, there appears to have been a second Kashyapa who was the father of Avatsara,

Saptarishi.[15][16][17] According to the list of sages provided by the Matsya Purana, Kashyapa had two sons – Avatsara and Asita; Nidhruva and Rebha were Avatsara’s son. But this list is doubted; the genealogy otherwise gives three groups among the Kashyaps, the Sandliyas, Naidhruvas and Raibhyas.[18]

From Book IV Chapter VIII of the Srimad Bhagvatam it is learnt though Maitreya that Dhruva, the son of Uttanapada through Suruti, and the grandson of Svyambhuva Manu, had by his first wife Brahmi, two sons, Vatsara and Kalmavatsara or Kalpa.[19][20]

References

  1. ^ Shrikant G.Talageri. The Rig Veda: A Historical Analysis (PDF). Aditya Prakashan. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-01-16. Retrieved 2014-01-16.
  2. ISBN 9781843313328
    .
  3. ^ All Four Vedas. Agniveer. 2013-11-10. pp. 124–134, 326, 409–417, 734.
  4. ISBN 9788120813595
    .
  5. ^ Dhundiraja Ganesa (1962). Sarautakosah:Encyclopaedia of Vedic Sacrificial Rituals. p. 1016.
  6. ISBN 9781001403793
    .
  7. ISBN 9788124601716
    .
  8. ^ Ravinder Kumar Soni. The Illumination of Knowledge. GBD Books. pp. 246–247.
  9. ^ Agniveer (2013-11-10). All Four Vedas. Agniveer. p. 46.
  10. ISBN 9788120813595
    .
  11. ^ Ravinder Kumar Soni. The Illumination of Knowledge. GBD Books. pp. 247–248.
  12. ^ Islamkotob. Rig Veda A Historical Analysis. Islamic Books. p. 102.
  13. ^ Arthur Anthony Macdonell. Vedic Index of Names and Subjects Vol.1. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 39–40.
  14. ISBN 9788120813328
    . Retrieved 2015-02-09.
  15. ^ Sita Nath Pradhan (1927). Chronology of Ancient India. Bhartiya Publishing House. p. 90.
  16. ^ Praci-jyoti. Kurukshetra University. 1973.
  17. ISBN 9788170223764
    .
  18. ISBN 9788120814875
    .
  19. ^ Francis Wilford (1799). On the chronology of the Hindus Asiatic Researches Vol. 5. New Jersey College Library. p. 253.
  20. ISBN 9781438422831
    .
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