Religion Hinduism | Children Drona, Katyayani | |
 | ||
Parents Bṛhaspati (father)
Utathya (mother) | ||
Bharadwaja, also referred to as Bharadvaja (Sanskrit: भरद्वाज, IAST: Bharadvāja) or Bharadvaja Barhaspatya, is one of the revered Vedic sages (rishi) in Hinduism. He and his family of students are considered the authors of the sixth book of the Rigveda.
Contents
He is one of the Saptaṛṣis (seven great sages or Maharṣis).
History
His full name in Vedic texts is Bharadvaja Barhaspatya, the last name referring to his father and Vedic sage Brihaspati. His mother was Utathya. 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. In later Puranic legends, he is stated to be the son of Vedic sage Atri.
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.
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 knowledge.
The word Bharadvaja is a compound Sanskrit from "bhara(d) and vaja(m)", which together mean "bringing about nourishment". His name is also spelled as Telugu: భరద్వాజ.
Texts
Bharadvaja and his famiy of students are the authors of the sixth mandala of the Rigveda, one of the "family books" in this text. He and his students are also the attributed authors of other Rigvedic hymns such as 10.87, 10.152 and 10.155. Bharadvaja and his famiy of students were the traditional poets of king Marutta of the Vedic era, in the Hindu texts.
Bharadvaja is a revered sage in the Hindu traditions, and like other revered sages, numerous treatises composed in ancient and medieval era are reverentially named after him. Some treatises named after him or attributed to him include:
Epics and Puranic mythologies
In the Vishnu Purana, Bharadwaja had a brief liaison with an apsara named Ghritaci, and together they had a baby who grew up into warrior-Brahmin named Droṇācārya He is also the grandfather of Aśvatthāma. Bhardvāja is a gotra (family lineages) of the Brahmin caste.
According to one legend, Bharadvaja married Sushila and had a son called Garga. In the Mahabharata, he has a son with an apsara named Ghritachi, and this son is called Dronacharya. In the epic, Bharadvaja trained Drona in the use of weapons.Bharadwaja had a daughter called Katyayani, who married Yajnavalkya.
Bhardwaj in Punjab
In Punjab Bhardwaj are mostly residing in Bhatinda, Ludhiana, Moga and Nawanshahr District. Khanna city of Ludhiana district is having maximum number of Bhardwaj in Punjab
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. Bharadvaja gives them directions. He reappears at various times in the epic, and described in Ayodhaya Kanda as the son of sage Atri. According to James Lochtefeld, the Bharadvaja in the Ramayana is different from the Vedic sage mentioned in Panini's Ashtadhyayi.