: याज्ञवल्क्य) of Mithila

Mithila

Mithila was a city in Ancient India, the capital of the Videha Kingdom. The name Mithila is also commonly used to refer to the Videha Kingdom itself, as well as to the modern-day territories that fall within the ancient boundaries of Videha...

 was a legendary sage

Rishi

Rishi denotes the composers of Vedic hymns. However, according to post-Vedic tradition, the rishi is a "seer" to whom the Vedas were "originally revealed" through states of higher consciousness. The rishis were prominent when Vedic Hinduism took shape, as far back as some three thousand years...

 of Vedic India, credited with the authorship of the Shatapatha Brahmana

Shatapatha Brahmana

The Shatapatha Brahmana is one of the prose texts describing the Vedic ritual, associated with the Shukla Yajurveda. It survives in two recensions, Madhyandina and Kanva , with the former having the eponymous 100 adhyayas,7624 kandikas in 14 books, and the latter 104 adhyayas,6806 kandikas in 17...

 (including the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

The Upanishad is one of the older, "primary" Upanishads. It is contained within the Shatapatha Brahmana, and its status as an independent Upanishad may be considered a secondary extraction of a portion of the Brahmana text. This makes it one of the oldest texts of the Upanishad corpus...

), besides Yogayajnavalkya Samhita

Yogayajnavalkya Samhita

The Yogayajnavalkya Samhita is a classical treatise on Yoga attributed to Yajnavalkya. It takes the form of a dialogue between Yajnavalkya and Gargi, a renowned female philosopher of his time.-Literature:...

 and the Yājñavalkya Smṛti. He is also a major figure in the Upanishad

Upanishad

The Upanishads are philosophical texts considered to be an early source of Hindu religion. More than 200 are known, of which the first dozen or so, the oldest and most important, are variously referred to as the principal, main or old Upanishads...

s.

Life

According to tradition, Yajnavalkya was the son of Devaraata and was the pupil of sage Vaishampayana. Once, Vaishampayana got angry with Yajnavalkya as the latter argued too much to separate some latter additions to Yajurveda in being abler than other students. The angry teacher asked his pupil Yajnavalkya to give back all the knowledge of Yajurveda that he had taught him.

As per the demands of his Guru

Guru

A guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...

, Yajnavalkya vomited all the knowledge that he acquired from his teacher in form of digested food. Other disciples of Vaishampayana took the form of partridge

Partridge

Partridges are birds in the pheasant family, Phasianidae. They are a non-migratory Old World group.These are medium-sized birds, intermediate between the larger pheasants and the smaller quails. Partridges are native to Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East...

 birds and consumed the digested knowledge (a metaphor for knowledge in its simplified form without the complexities of the whole but the simplicity of parts) because it was knowledge and they were very eager to receive the same.

The Sanskrit name for partridge is "Tittiri". As the Tittiri (partridge) birds ate this Veda, it is thenceforth called the Taittiriya Yajurveda. It is also known as Krishna Yajurveda or Black-Yajurveda on account of it being a vomited substance. The Taittiriya Samhita thus belongs to this Yajurveda.

Then Yajnavalkya determined not to have any human guru thereafter. Thus he began to propitiate the Sun God, Surya

Surya

Surya Suraya or Phra Athit is the chief solar deity in Hinduism, one of the Adityas, son of Kasyapa and one of his wives, Aditi; of Indra; or of Dyaus Pitar . The term Surya also refers to the Sun, in general. Surya has hair and arms of gold...

. Yajnavalkya worshipped and extolled the Sun, the master of the Vedas, for the purpose of acquiring the fresh Vedic portions not known to his preceptor, Vaishampayana.

The Sun God, pleased with Yajnavalkya’s penance, assumed the form of a horse and graced the sage with such fresh portions of the Yajurveda as were not known to any other. This portion of the Yajurveda goes by the name of Shukla Yajurveda or White-Yajurveda on account of it being revealed by Sun. It is also known as Vajasaneya Yajurveda, because it was evolved in great rapidity by Sun who was in the form of a horse through his manes.The rhythm of recital of these vedas is therefore to the rhythm of the horse canter and distinguishes itself from the other forms of veda recitals. In Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

, term "Vaji" means horse. Yajnavalkya divided this Vajasaneya Yajurveda again into fifteen branches, each branch comprising hundreds of Yajus Mantras. Sages like Kanva, Madhyandina and others learnt those and Shukla Yajurveda branched into popular recensions named after them.

It is important to note that within the hierarchy of Brahmins, certain sects believe in the Krishna Yajurveda while others practice from the Shukla Yajurveda. Two important sects of Telugu Brahmins with a belief in Shukla Yajurveda are the Niyogis who are further sub-divided into sub-sects like Prathama Sakha Niyogis (shukla yaju) and Aaru Velu Niyogis (krishna yaju) (aaru-velu = six-thousand Sanskrit).

Yajnavalkya married two wives. One was Maitreyi

Maitreyi

Maitreyi was a Vedic philosopher from ancient India. She was the second wife of famous sage and philosopher, Yajnavalkya, the first being Katyaayanee....

 and the other Katyaayanee. Of the two, Maitreyi

Maitreyi

Maitreyi was a Vedic philosopher from ancient India. She was the second wife of famous sage and philosopher, Yajnavalkya, the first being Katyaayanee....

 was a Brahmavadini (one who is interested in the knowledge of Brahman

Brahman

In Hinduism, Brahman is the one supreme, universal Spirit that is the origin and support of the phenomenal universe. Brahman is sometimes referred to as the Absolute or Godhead which is the Divine Ground of all being...

).The descendant sects of Brahmans are the progeny of the first wife Katyaayanee. When Yajnavalkya wished to divide his property between the two wives, Maitreyi asked whether she could become immortal through wealth. Yajnavalkya replied that there was no hope of immortality through wealth and that she would only become one among the many who were well-to-do on. When she heard this, Maitreyi asked Yajnavalkya to teach her what he considered as the best. Then Yajnavalkya described to her the greatness of the Absolute Self, the nature of its existence, the way of attaining infinite knowledge and immortality, etc. This immortal conversation between Yajnavalkya and Maitreyi is recorded in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

The Upanishad is one of the older, "primary" Upanishads. It is contained within the Shatapatha Brahmana, and its status as an independent Upanishad may be considered a secondary extraction of a portion of the Brahmana text. This makes it one of the oldest texts of the Upanishad corpus...

.

Wisdom of Yajnavalkya is shown in Brhadaranyaka Upanishad where he gives his teachings to his wife Maitreyi and King Janaka

Janaka

Janaka or Raja Janaka were the kings of Videha Kingdom. Their capital was Mithila, which is believed to be present day Janakpur, Nepal...

. He also participates in a competition arranged by King Janaka about the selecting great Brhama Jnani (knower of Brahman

Brahman

In Hinduism, Brahman is the one supreme, universal Spirit that is the origin and support of the phenomenal universe. Brahman is sometimes referred to as the Absolute or Godhead which is the Divine Ground of all being...

). His intellectual dialogues with Gargi (a learned scholar of the times) form a beautiful chapter filled with lot of philosophical and mystical question-answers in Brhadaranyaka Upanishad. In the end, Yajnavalkya took Vidvat Sanyasa (renunciation after the attainment of the knowledge of Brahman

Brahman

In Hinduism, Brahman is the one supreme, universal Spirit that is the origin and support of the phenomenal universe. Brahman is sometimes referred to as the Absolute or Godhead which is the Divine Ground of all being...

) and retired to the forest.

It is believed that during the spiritual cleansing of Kshatriya males by Parshurama, the noble families were unable to find suitable male suitors for the princesses. During this period, some of the descendants of Yajnavalkya were offered these princesses as brides as they were the only sects bestowed with the quality of pride amongst the various Brahman sects. Thus a new line of brahman nobility was created in the social hierarchy (prathama shakhi) advising the king on the spiritual and administrative aspects of ruling the kingdom

Yajnavalkya was one of the greatest sages ever known. His precepts as contained in the Upanishads (the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad) stand foremost as the crest-jewel of the highest teachings on knowledge of Brahman

Brahman

In Hinduism, Brahman is the one supreme, universal Spirit that is the origin and support of the phenomenal universe. Brahman is sometimes referred to as the Absolute or Godhead which is the Divine Ground of all being...

. Most of the Hindu Laws today are based on the Yajnavalkya Smriti.

Works

If the ascription of the Shatapatha Brahmana

Shatapatha Brahmana

The Shatapatha Brahmana is one of the prose texts describing the Vedic ritual, associated with the Shukla Yajurveda. It survives in two recensions, Madhyandina and Kanva , with the former having the eponymous 100 adhyayas,7624 kandikas in 14 books, and the latter 104 adhyayas,6806 kandikas in 17...

and the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad is genuine, Yajnavalkya has made important contributions to both philosophy

Indian philosophy

India has a rich and diverse philosophical tradition dating back to ancient times. According to Radhakrishnan, the earlier Upanisads constitute "...the earliest philosophical compositions of the world."...

, including the apophatic teaching of 'neti neti

Neti neti

In Hinduism, and in particular Jnana Yoga and Advaita Vedanta, neti neti may be a chant or mantra, meaning "not this, not this", or "neither this, nor that"...

', and to astronomy, describing the 95-year cycle to synchronize the motions of the sun

Sun

The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...

 and the moon

Moon

The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...

. He was described as the greatest Bramajnani by all the sages at the function organised by king Janaka.

External links

• Sage Yajnavalkya on Hindupedia, the online Hindu Encyclopedia