Bharadvaja

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

His contributions to ancient Indian literature, specifically the Rigveda, provide significant insight into ancient Vedic society. He and his family of students were the authors of Mandala 6 in the Rigveda. In the epic Mahabharata, Bharadvaja was the father of Droṇācārya, the guru and instructor to the Pandava and Kaurava princes in the Mahabharata. Bharadvaja is also mentioned in Charaka Samhita, an authoritative ancient Indian medical text.

The word Bharadvaja is a compound Sanskrit from "bhara(d)" and "vaja(m)", which together mean "bringing about nourishment". The name lends itself to more than one yoga asana^{[clarification needed]} called Bharadvajasana ("nourishing pose") named after the eponymous sage.^{[citation needed]}

His full name in Vedic texts is Bharadvaja Barhaspatya, the last name referring to his father and Vedic deity-sage Brihaspati. His mother was Mamata, wife of Utathya Rishi, who was the elder brother of Barhaspati. In the Bhagavata Purana, he is named as Vitatha. He is one of seven rishis mentioned four times in the Rigveda as well as in the Shatapatha Brahmana, thereafter revered in the Mahabharata and the Puranas. In some later Puranic legends, he is described as 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 to 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.

Bharadvaja is considered to be the initiator of the Bharadvāja gotra of the Brahmins, Khatris, 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 being initiators of Gotras with their respective names.

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