The Bharadvajas in Ancient India (An Old and Rare Book)

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The Book Comprises two parts: Part I deals with the socio-historical aspects of family of the Vedic Seer Bharadvaja, and Part II discusses the significant contribution the family has made to the various fields of Indian culture. Part I is divided into five chapters, each comprising more than one section. The first chapter considers the textual evidences of the Vedic Sazhhitãs, the Brahmaas, the Upaniads and the Ramayaa in regard to the Bharadvãjas. The second chapter traces the birth and parentage, of Bharadvaja, the progenitor, and his relation with the gods, seers, kings and other persons. The third chapter discusses the lives of the descendants of Bharadvaja, namely Suhotra, unahotra, Nara, Garga, jivan, Payu, Rãtri (Kaipa), Vasu, Väsa, Sirirhbitha, Ajamidha and Purumidha. The fourth chapter deals with two other seers Samyu, a brother of Bharadvãja and Vitahavya Angirasa, whose hymns are incorporated in the Book of Bharadvaja in the gveda. The fifth chapter deals with the problem of Divc’dasa, a Bharata Prince, with whom the Uharadvajas were intimately connected as priests.

Part II is divided into two chapters: The chapter six takes the Vedic themes namely, Puan: myth and cult, family hymns of Bharadvajas, Gosukta, the Samans of Bharadvajas and Bharadvaja KalpasUtra. The chapter seven relates to the contribution of the Bharadvãjas to the fields of Politics, Grammar and Phonetics, medicine and philosophy of Pancarãtra. Besides, the two appendices list the Gotras and Pravaras of the Bharadvajas.

It is indeed a great pleasure to see that the Ph.D. dissertation of my pupil Dr. Thaneswar Sarmah goes under print. Dr. Sarmah began his study of the history of Bharadvajas with the idea that he could set up a consistent picture of their families which originated from one single stem and branched into numerous families in different locales and times.

However, he soon perceived the impossibility of the task which arose from paucity of definitely reliable chronological data and also from the Purace fancy and hyperbole and consequently decided to focus his attention on the contribution of Bharadvajas to Ancient Indian Myth and Ritual—also occasionally to Ancient India’s law and history. Then, while he achieved his end, he discussed almost every bit of information, howsoever small, about various Bhãrdvãjas and about their writings and examined or weighed the same critically. His study of Bhãradvajas thus reveals a thorough and valuable picture of the contribution of Bharadvajas to the making of Indian culture through passage of several centuries, from the hoary past to known past.

I should not fail to state that although Dr. Sarmah was inspired to take up the study of an ancient family of Seers of Ancient India by earlier studies of the Seers of Vedic times, he has revealed his ability to look at the problem steadily and as a whole. He studied the most ancient hymns of the Vedas, the ritualistic texts, the law texts—even late Nibandhas—and work on sundry subjects like Astronomy, &kcJ etc. Also he studied ancillary literature of the Vedas, the Purãas and other works which supplied him historical, quasi-historical and mythical accounts of Bhãradväjas, together with the critical studies on these matters by modern scholars like Pargiter, Hazra, Pusalkar and P.L. Bhargava. And, what is particularly remarkable, Sarmah considered all these sources—primary and secondary— not only dispassionately but also boldly and with an open mind. He did not flag even a little when he controverter the views of the savants in the field. This is revealed in his somewhat laborious discussions on the histories of some particular individuals amongst Bharadvãjas, his discussions on the dates of the subfamilies of them, and also his explanation of the scanty and piecemeal mythical or other details which showed him some connected accounts. Indeed, imagination has served Sarmah, but only in a controlled and restrained manner.

I believe, Sarmah’s work would usher in many more studies of Ancient Indian Seers’ families and thereby our ancient heritage will be clearly underlined.

May I hope that this work of Sarmah is a fore-runner of many of his post-Ph.D. writings?

A study of the Vedic culture would involve a consideration of number of its aspects viz., its mythology, religion, philosophy, popular beliefs and superstitions, socio-political institutions and so on. All these aspects show their gradual development as the Indo-Aryans (IA) kept on coming into this land in a number of waves of migrations and spread eastward in different settlements. These IA settlers lived in some scattered, even isolated, settle- ments and developed their own distinct family traditions, keeping, however, certain affinities with tradition of other families. This can be gathered from the hymns of the family Mandalas of the RV, which are the earliest production in the world's litera- ture; it is primarily a religious work, containing, of course, some historical traces-particularly in the so-called Danastutis, the references in which to personal names, etc. may be said to be contemporary records of the age.

The RV consists of a thousand and odd hymns which are divided into ten Mandalas based on historical tradition." The Mandalas 2-7 are called Family Books (Kula Mandalas], i.e. collections of the hymns by seers belonging to particular families. These families are: Grtsamada, Visvamitra, Vamadeva, Atri, Bharadvaja and Vasistha. The eighth Mandala contains hymns revealed to the members of the Kanva family and the Angirases. The first Mandala, too, is based on the same criterion, but it may be called a collection of the hymns of seers belonging to more than one family, and hence could be called a collection of smaller family books. The 9th and the l0th Mandalas do not fall in the line with these Mandalas.

Now, coming back to the early family books, we see that these family books were the contribution of the members of individual families. All those families are found to have followed and deve- loped, in common, the cults of Indra, Agni and Soma. So also, they equally shared the same religious beliefs, mythology, magic, manners and customs. Nevertheless, each of the families dis- tinguished itself from the rest in adhering to some uncommon cults or religious practices, mythology, (sometimes) magic and in having some special character of its own. It is noticed that mem- bers of all those families contributed a lot to the making of Indra, Agni and Soma mythologies. The seers of these families vied with one another in eulogising the distinctive features or characteristics of these three gods. As a result, mythologies concerning these three gods swelled out of proportion. The mythologies of other gods, however important, were comparatively less popular. As such, the Asvins, the Maruts and Usas appear in the second rank as regards the volume of their myths. There are some other gods who follow next. The Vedic seers belonging to each of those families contributed to the making of the mythology of all these gods. However, sometimes, one family appears to have specialised in the myth-making of one or two particular gods. Thus the Grtsamadas are found to have been devoted to Brahmanaspati (or Brhaspati) as their family deity, the Vamadevas to the Rbhus, the Atris to the Maruts, the Bharadvajas to Pusan and the Vasisthas to Mitra and Varuna. The worship of each of these gods, within a particular family, was probably in keeping with certain traditions prevalent in that family. This sort of special worship of a particular god reveals some particular religious aspect main- tained in that family's traditions. The Vamadevas are found to be characteristically a family of mystic poets, while the Bharadvajas betray a pastoral-cum-warlike character. The Grtsamadas' worship of Brahmanaspati originated probably from ancestor worship. This kind of worship, peculiar to each of those families, deve- loped probably within the family or clan in certain peculiar condi- tions. For such a growth of each individual worship each of those families was probably keeping some distance from the others. Each family lived probably in a distinct settlement after its migra- tion into this land and during that while, each adhered to and developed its peculiar worship of a particular deity and this gave rise to distinct mythology.

In spite of these peculiar cults followed in a family, all the families shared the common worship of Agni, Indra and Soma, who are conspicuous by their presence in every Vedic sacrifice. It is also natural that when each of these families adhered to the worship of a particular god and, side by side, shared the worship of Indra, Agni and Soma, all of them, later shared the worship of the gods who were earlier peculiar to some individual families. In other words, all the families made some adjustments with regard to their worship of the individual gods peculiar to themselves. As a result of these attitudes, they accepted the god/gods of another family and made some suitable adjustments in their religion and belief as well. Under such circumstances, mythology assumed new dimensions. Thus the family inheritance of the poetic compo- sitions of a particular Mandala does reflect the family heritage in respect of religion, mythology, magic, superstition, philosophy, ritual, manners and customs and so on.

The family of Bharadvaja is one of those who made significant contribution to the making of the Indo-Aryan culture and civiliza- tion. This family is represented by sixteen seers whose hymns are included in the extant Sakala Samhita of the RV. The 6th Mandala of the RV and a number of hymns in the 4th, 9th and 10th Mandalas are ascribed to the members of the family Bharadvaja, the son of Brhaspati, who was the founder of this family. Although the Sarva- ascribes to Bharadvaja Barhaspatya as many as 59 out of 75 hymns which comprised the family book of the Bharadvajas, it is doubtful whether there is any hymn by that seer. It is rather possible that to some remote descendants of that family were revealed those hymns but were ascribed to their illustrious early ancestor. Other seers, Suhotra, Sunahotra, Nara, Garga and Rjisvan are remote descendants of Bharadvaja Barhaspatya.Samyu may be said to be brother of Bharadvaja, while Vitahavya's identity is even now doubtful. The internal evidences sometimes go against the attribution of the hymns to them, yet we are to rely on the Sarva, because no other source can help us to ascertain the ascription of the hymns to some rsi or rsis, Payu is said to be another son of Bharadvaja and his name, unlike those of some other members of the family, is actually mentioned among those who received the gifts of the Bharata princes. One of these princes, Divodasa, is mentioned in many stanzas of the 6th Mandala and also in those outside the same. But it is possible to assume that most of the hymns were composed in the time of Divodasa and Payu, Consequently, Bharadvaja, to whom majority of the hymns are ascribed, could probably be the father (or grandfather) of Payu. Thus, we consider Payu as an outstanding figure among the Bharadvajas who can provide some clue to ascertaining the time of the hymns of the 6th Mandala, The identity of Ajamidha and Purumidha among other seers, can be well ascertained although one cannot tell why their hymns were included in the Vamadeva Mandala (viz. the 4th) of the RV. The case of other seers is doubtful. Nothing is certain about their relation to other Bharadvajas, In their case also we have simply to rely on the Sarva.

Be that as it may, it is but a reality that the family was very much responsible for the growth and the development of ancient Indian culture. Particularly, the hymns of the 6th Mandala bear the stamp of the Bharadvajas' age-old activities in the socio- political sphere of the early Rgvedic period. In their hymns in praise of Pusan and the COWS,IO they have left evidence of the pastoral stage of their family, while in a few Danastutis they have preserved the unmistakable impression of the martial character of their family. Of course, these hymns speak of an Atharvanic magic which they had successfully used in the time of war and that emphasized their relation with the Atharvangirases.vs Their martial character is emphasized in the MBh. A legend in that Epic narrates how a Bharadvaja helped Divodasa’s son Pratardana to recover the kingdom of Kasi from the clutches of the Haihaya- Vitahavyas.P Further, the legend of Drona Bharadvaja and his. son Asvatthaman who played prominent role in the Mahabharata War, also, confirms our assumption that the Bharadvajas had more or less a martial character. Again, the Epic tells us that the Bharadvajas upheld a long tradition of missiles and in this the Bharadvajas are comparable with the Bhrgus whose war-like activities are equally well praised in the MBh.

Another significant feature of the family is its connection with sociological problems. This family is probably one of those few families whose history shows traces of important social changes. One of these important changes is indicated in the legend of Bharadvaja's birth. Brhaspati's sexual relation with Mamata, the wife of his brother Ucathya, without any social inhibition or taboo probably hints at an age-old custom that was prevalent among the early IA people that may interest the student of social sciences.

Bharadvaja's alleged adoption by Bharata, son of Dusyanta, is also probably an event of still greater significance. Whether Bharadvaja himself was actually adopted or not will be discussed in the course of our study. We presume, however, that this. alleged adoption had a far-reaching repurcussion on the socio- political structure within the families of the Bharadvajas and the Bharatas. It will be seen that many a Ksatriya king was actually named as a seer of some Vedic hymns, and the term rajarsi was. probably more appropriate than merely rsi in the case of Suhotra, Ajamidha, Mudgala, Divodasa and Sudas etc. to whom the Sarva ascribes'some hymns. Their names figure in the genealogical list of the Bharatas-who were bifurcated into the Kurus and the Pancalas.

It will also be seen that these Bharadvajas who were born in the line of the adopted son of Bharata gave rise to quite a large num- ber of Ksatriya Brahmanas (Ksatropeta-Brahmanah) some of whom contributed to the growth of the Vedic culture as seers or kings of royal seers. The Gargas, the Samkrtis, the Kanvas, the Mudgalas and the Mitrayus are some prominent examples.This fusion of brahman and ksatra is seen in the case of the Visvamitra also, who was a Ksatriya by birth but later elevated into a Brahmana. But the case in hand shows a two-way traffic. One Bharadvaja was adopted by Bharata and he became a Ksatriya, but subsequently he fathered both Brahmanas and Ksatriyas. This is definitely a proof of the flexibility that existed in the society of that age.

The study of this family may also help in deciding the relative chronology of a number of families of seers, viz., the Kanvas, the Grtsamadas, the Visvamitras, the Vasisthas and the Vamadevas. It is reasonable to expect that the relation of the Grtsamadas and the Kanvas to the Bharadvajas may be satisfactorily ascertained on the basis of the materials available directly. whereas we may be able to find the relative positions of the others only in an indirect way.

This dissertation entitled ‘The bharadvajas in Ancient India’ attempts to present a socio-historical study of the family of the distinguished seers. The work has been divided into two parts:

Part I dealing with the socio-historical account of the family and Part II dealing with the significant contributions the family has made to Indian culture—it may nevertheless be mentioned that Part II does not present an over-all picture of the contribution of the Bharadvajas, rather it underlines some select aspects of the same.

While utilizing the Vedic and Epico-Purauic sources for reconstruction of the family history of the Bharadvajas we have tried to ascertain the rationality of the sources and often faced paucity of actual historicity—-particularly the sense of chronology which is the mainstay of history. As such while discussing the chronological problems either of the Bharadvajas or of the hilarities—particularly of Divodasa Atithigva—with a view to highlighting the date of the lgvedie hymns, we had to depend mainly upon the date of the Mahabharata War. We could not go into the problem of its date, its entirety as that discussion is only incidental. We have provided three tables of the genealogies of the early Rharadvãjas and Bharatas up to the times of the Mah & bharata War (3100 N.E.) based on the Epic (MBh) and Purãdas, independent of any modern authority. These tables, we hope, will help one to understand the historicity of the facts dealt with in this work and the relative chronology of the events of those times.

While dealing with the problem, we have tried to be forthright and given our independent consideration irrespective of hitherto established authorities and had often to be critical of some of them—we did so only when compelled by circumstances. We have nevertheless accepted opinions and findings of some scholars, when we found them suitable for our purpose. So also, we have drawn upon translations of some Vedic and post-Vedic works in pursuance of our objectives. Thus, we are indebted to and must pay homage to those pürvasüris and express sincere gratitude to them. All the same, we may claim that our work does not lack in originality.

Since Vedic accents are not available, the quotations of mantras in Devanagari are without such accents for which our apologies.

A study of the Vedic culture would involve a consideration of number of its aspects viz., its mythology, religion, philosophy, popular beliefs and superstitions, socio-political institutions and so on. All these aspects show their gradual development as the Indo-Aryans (IA) kept on coming into this land in a number of waves of migrations and spread eastward in different settlements. These IA settlers lived in some scattered, even isolated, settle- ments and developed their own distinct family traditions, keeping, however, certain affinities with tradition of other families. This can be gathered from the hymns of the family Mandalas of the RV, which are the earliest production in the world's litera- ture; it is primarily a religious work, containing, of course, some historical traces-particularly in the so-called Danastutis, the references in which to personal names, etc. may be said to be contemporary records of the age.

The RV consists of a thousand and odd hymns which are divided into ten Mandalas based on historical tradition." The Mandalas 2-7 are called Family Books (Kula Mandalas], i.e. collections of the hymns by seers belonging to particular families. These families are: Grtsamada, Visvamitra, Vamadeva, Atri, Bharadvaja and Vasistha. The eighth Mandala contains hymns revealed to the members of the Kanva family and the Angirases. The first Mandala, too, is based on the same criterion, but it may be called a collection of the hymns of seers belonging to more than one family, and hence could be called a collection of smaller family books. The 9th and the l0th Mandalas do not fall in the line with these Mandalas.

Now, coming back to the early family books, we see that these family books were the contribution of the members of individual families. All those families are found to have followed and deve- loped, in common, the cults of Indra, Agni and Soma. So also, they equally shared the same religious beliefs, mythology, magic, manners and customs. Nevertheless, each of the families dis- tinguished itself from the rest in adhering to some uncommon cults or religious practices, mythology, (sometimes) magic and in having some special character of its own. It is noticed that mem- bers of all those families contributed a lot to the making of Indra, Agni and Soma mythologies. The seers of these families vied with one another in eulogising the distinctive features or characteristics of these three gods. As a result, mythologies concerning these three gods swelled out of proportion. The mythologies of other gods, however important, were comparatively less popular. As such, the Asvins, the Maruts and Usas appear in the second rank as regards the volume of their myths. There are some other gods who follow next. The Vedic seers belonging to each of those families contributed to the making of the mythology of all these gods. However, sometimes, one family appears to have specialised in the myth-making of one or two particular gods. Thus the Grtsamadas are found to have been devoted to Brahmanaspati (or Brhaspati) as their family deity, the Vamadevas to the Rbhus, the Atris to the Maruts, the Bharadvajas to Pusan and the Vasisthas to Mitra and Varuna. The worship of each of these gods, within a particular family, was probably in keeping with certain traditions prevalent in that family. This sort of special worship of a particular god reveals some particular religious aspect main- tained in that family's traditions. The Vamadevas are found to be characteristically a family of mystic poets, while the Bharadvajas betray a pastoral-cum-warlike character. The Grtsamadas' worship of Brahmanaspati originated probably from ancestor worship. This kind of worship, peculiar to each of those families, deve- loped probably within the family or clan in certain peculiar condi- tions. For such a growth of each individual worship each of those families was probably keeping some distance from the others. Each family lived probably in a distinct settlement after its migra- tion into this land and during that while, each adhered to and developed its peculiar worship of a particular deity and this gave rise to distinct mythology.

In spite of these peculiar cults followed in a family, all the families shared the common worship of Agni, Indra and Soma, who are conspicuous by their presence in every Vedic sacrifice. It is also natural that when each of these families adhered to the worship of a particular god and, side by side, shared the worship of Indra, Agni and Soma, all of them, later shared the worship of the gods who were earlier peculiar to some individual families. In other words, all the families made some adjustments with regard to their worship of the individual gods peculiar to themselves. As a result of these attitudes, they accepted the god/gods of another family and made some suitable adjustments in their religion and belief as well. Under such circumstances, mythology assumed new dimensions. Thus the family inheritance of the poetic compo- sitions of a particular Mandala does reflect the family heritage in respect of religion, mythology, magic, superstition, philosophy, ritual, manners and customs and so on.

The family of Bharadvaja is one of those who made significant contribution to the making of the Indo-Aryan culture and civiliza- tion. This family is represented by sixteen seers whose hymns are included in the extant Sakala Samhita of the RV. The 6th Mandala of the RV and a number of hymns in the 4th, 9th and 10th Mandalas are ascribed to the members of the family Bharadvaja, the son of Brhaspati, who was the founder of this family. Although the Sarva- ascribes to Bharadvaja Barhaspatya as many as 59 out of 75 hymns which comprised the family book of the Bharadvajas, it is doubtful whether there is any hymn by that seer. It is rather possible that to some remote descendants of that family were revealed those hymns but were ascribed to their illustrious early ancestor. Other seers, Suhotra, Sunahotra, Nara, Garga and Rjisvan are remote descendants of Bharadvaja Barhaspatya.Samyu may be said to be brother of Bharadvaja, while Vitahavya's identity is even now doubtful. The internal evidences sometimes go against the attribution of the hymns to them, yet we are to rely on the Sarva, because no other source can help us to ascertain the ascription of the hymns to some rsi or rsis, Payu is said to be another son of Bharadvaja and his name, unlike those of some other members of the family, is actually mentioned among those who received the gifts of the Bharata princes. One of these princes, Divodasa, is mentioned in many stanzas of the 6th Mandala and also in those outside the same. But it is possible to assume that most of the hymns were composed in the time of Divodasa and Payu, Consequently, Bharadvaja, to whom majority of the hymns are ascribed, could probably be the father (or grandfather) of Payu. Thus, we consider Payu as an outstanding figure among the Bharadvajas who can provide some clue to ascertaining the time of the hymns of the 6th Mandala, The identity of Ajamidha and Purumidha among other seers, can be well ascertained although one cannot tell why their hymns were included in the Vamadeva Mandala (viz. the 4th) of the RV. The case of other seers is doubtful. Nothing is certain about their relation to other Bharadvajas, In their case also we have simply to rely on the Sarva.

Be that as it may, it is but a reality that the family was very much responsible for the growth and the development of ancient Indian culture. Particularly, the hymns of the 6th Mandala bear the stamp of the Bharadvajas' age-old activities in the socio- political sphere of the early Rgvedic period. In their hymns in praise of Pusan and the COWS,IO they have left evidence of the pastoral stage of their family, while in a few Danastutis they have preserved the unmistakable impression of the martial character of their family. Of course, these hymns speak of an Atharvanic magic which they had successfully used in the time of war and that emphasized their relation with the Atharvangirases.vs Their martial character is emphasized in the MBh. A legend in that Epic narrates how a Bharadvaja helped Divodasa’s son Pratardana to recover the kingdom of Kasi from the clutches of the Haihaya- Vitahavyas.P Further, the legend of Drona Bharadvaja and his. son Asvatthaman who played prominent role in the Mahabharata War, also, confirms our assumption that the Bharadvajas had more or less a martial character. Again, the Epic tells us that the Bharadvajas upheld a long tradition of missiles and in this the Bharadvajas are comparable with the Bhrgus whose war-like activities are equally well praised in the MBh.

Another significant feature of the family is its connection with sociological problems. This family is probably one of those few families whose history shows traces of important social changes. One of these important changes is indicated in the legend of Bharadvaja's birth. Brhaspati's sexual relation with Mamata, the wife of his brother Ucathya, without any social inhibition or taboo probably hints at an age-old custom that was prevalent among the early IA people that may interest the student of social sciences.

Bharadvaja's alleged adoption by Bharata, son of Dusyanta, is also probably an event of still greater significance. Whether Bharadvaja himself was actually adopted or not will be discussed in the course of our study. We presume, however, that this. alleged adoption had a far-reaching repurcussion on the socio- political structure within the families of the Bharadvajas and the Bharatas. It will be seen that many a Ksatriya king was actually named as a seer of some Vedic hymns, and the term rajarsi was. probably more appropriate than merely rsi in the case of Suhotra, Ajamidha, Mudgala, Divodasa and Sudas etc. to whom the Sarva ascribes'some hymns. Their names figure in the genealogical list of the Bharatas-who were bifurcated into the Kurus and the Pancalas.

It will also be seen that these Bharadvajas who were born in the line of the adopted son of Bharata gave rise to quite a large num- ber of Ksatriya Brahmanas (Ksatropeta-Brahmanah) some of whom contributed to the growth of the Vedic culture as seers or kings of royal seers. The Gargas, the Samkrtis, the Kanvas, the Mudgalas and the Mitrayus are some prominent examples.This fusion of brahman and ksatra is seen in the case of the Visvamitra also, who was a Ksatriya by birth but later elevated into a Brahmana. But the case in hand shows a two-way traffic. One Bharadvaja was adopted by Bharata and he became a Ksatriya, but subsequently he fathered both Brahmanas and Ksatriyas. This is definitely a proof of the flexibility that existed in the society of that age.

The study of this family may also help in deciding the relative chronology of a number of families of seers, viz., the Kanvas, the Grtsamadas, the Visvamitras, the Vasisthas and the Vamadevas. It is reasonable to expect that the relation of the Grtsamadas and the Kanvas to the Bharadvajas may be satisfactorily ascertained on the basis of the materials available directly. whereas we may be able to find the relative positions of the others only in an indirect way.