Ashtavakra
Encyclopedia
Ashtavakra is a sage mentioned in Hindu
scriptures. He is described as one born with deformities in eight limbs of the body (two feet, two knees, two hands, the chest and the head). In Sanskrit
, Ashtavakra means "one having eight bends". Ashta (IAST Aṣṭa) means eight, while Vakra means bend or deformity. Ashtavakra is the author of the work Ashtavakra Gita
, also known as Ashtavakra Samhita, a treatise on the instruction by Ashtavakra to Janaka about the Self. Ashtavakra is the Guru of the king Janaka
and the sage Yajnavalkya
.
's Ramayana. When Dasaratha
comes to see Rama
from heaven after the war of the Ramayana, he tells Rama -
of the Mahabharata
, the legend of Ashtavakra is described in greater detail. On losing the game of dice with the Kaurava
s, the five Pandava
princes and Draupadi
are exiled for twelve years. On their pilgrimage, they meet the sage Lomasha, who shows the river Samanga to Yudhishthira. Lomasha says that this is the same river, on bathing in which the deformed Ashtavakra was cured of his eight deformities. On being asked by Yudhishthira, Lomasha narrates to the Pandava princes the legend of Ashtavakra, which forms three chapters of the Mahabharata.
, ran a school (Ashram
) teaching the Vedas. Kahola (also spelled Kahoda) was one of his best disciples. Uddalaka was so pleased with him that he had his daughter Sujata married to him. When Sujata got pregnant, she had the desire of wanting her child to imbibe spirituality and intelligence. She began to sit in the classes taught by Uddalaka and Kahola, listening to their chanting of the Vedic Mantra
s. In India
, there is a belief that when expectant mothers expose themselves to spiritual teachings, the child in the womb hears it and gathers that knowledge and become a genius in that spiritual area after its birth.
One day, as Kahola was reciting the Vedas within the hearing distance of the child growing in the womb. The embryo was aware of the correct pronunciation of every syllable since its mother used to attend classes with rapt attention. The embryo heard the recitation of Kahola, but whenever Kahola pronounced a syllable wrong, it squirmed in distress. The embryo informed Kahola that he had pronounced the syllable wrongly as indicated by the child in the womb. This happened on eight occasions. Kahola perceived this as arrogance on the part of something, yet to manifest itself in the world. He cursed the fetus with eight deformities of the body. When the baby was born, it was crooked in eight places - the two feet, the two knees, the two hands, the chest and the head). He was named Ashtavakra, which means "one having eight bends".
Around the time Ashtavakra was born, Kahola was persuaded by Sujata to go to the court of Janaka
to earn some money. In Janaka's court, Kahola was challenged to a scriptural debate (Śastrartha) by the philosopher, Vandin (also spelled Bandin). In that time, the best philosophers were invited to argue in the presence of the monarch Janaka. Vandin easily defeated Kahola and immersed the vanquished Kahola in under water. Ashtavakra was now raised by Uddalaka. Uddalaka too had a son named Shvetaketu
when Ashtavakra was born. Ashtavakra and Shvetaketu grew up together. Uddalaka, Sujata and the disciples ensured that Ashtavakra was never informed of his real father, Ashtavakra thought that Uddalaka was his father and Shvetaketu his brother. When he was twelve years old, Ashtavakra was seated on Uddalaka's lap. Shvetaketu pulled him down and informed him that it was not the lap of his father. Ashtavakra came to know the truth about his father Kahola from Sujata, He decided to confront Vandin and defeat him in an argument.
Ashtavakra and Shvetaketu made his way to Janaka
's palace. Ashtavakra first faced the gatekeeper who tried to keep the young boy out. On convincing the gatekeeper that he was well versed in the scriptures and hence old, he was let in. Then Janaka tested Ashtavakra with cryptic questions which Ashtavakra answered with ease. Janaka decided to let Ashtavakra face Vandin. Vandin and Ashtavakra began the debate, with Vandin starting. They alternately composed six extempore verses on the numbers one to twelve. Then Vandin could only compose the first half of a verse on the number thirteen. Ashtavakra completed the verse by composing the second half and thus won the argument against Vandin. This unique debate is full of enigmas and latent meanings which lie under the simple counts of the numbers one to thirteen.
The condition of the contest was that if Vandin were to lose he would grant any wish of his vanquisher. Ashtavakra demanded that Vandin be drowned in water just as he forced his vanquished opponents to do. Vandin then revealed that he was the son of Varuna
(the Lord of all water bodies), and was sent incognito to land to get Rishi
s to conduct a ritual that Varuna wanted to perform. By this time, Varuna's ritual was also complete. On Vandin's request, Varuna bade the sages and Brahmaṇas farewell and brought them to surface. Ashtavakra worshipped his father and was in turn praised by all the freed sages. Kahola was extremely pleased with his son. Kahola returned to his aśrama with Ashtavakra and Shvetaketu. In the presence of Sujata, Kahola asked Ashtavakra to bathe in the river Samanga. When Ashtavakra entered the river, all his crooked limbs became straight.
. He went again to Mithila
and instructed King Janaka about the Self. These teachings form the content of the Ashtavakra Gita
or Ashtavakra Samhita as it is sometimes called.
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
scriptures. He is described as one born with deformities in eight limbs of the body (two feet, two knees, two hands, the chest and the head). 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...
, Ashtavakra means "one having eight bends". Ashta (IAST Aṣṭa) means eight, while Vakra means bend or deformity. Ashtavakra is the author of the work Ashtavakra Gita
Ashtavakra Gita
The Ashtavakra Gita or the Song of Ashtavakra, also known as Ashtavakra Samhita is an Advaita Vedanta scripture which documents a dialogue between the Perfect Master Ashtavakra and Janaka, the King of Mithila.-Significance:Ashtavakra Gita presents the traditional teachings of Advaita Vedanta...
, also known as Ashtavakra Samhita, a treatise on the instruction by Ashtavakra to Janaka about the Self. Ashtavakra is the Guru of the 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...
and the sage Yajnavalkya
Yajnavalkya
Yajnavalkya of Mithila was a legendary sage of Vedic India, credited with the authorship of the Shatapatha Brahmana , besides Yogayajnavalkya Samhita and the Yājñavalkya Smṛti...
.
In the Ramayana
Ashtavakra is first referenced in a single verse (6.119.17) of Yuddha Kanda in ValmikiValmiki
Valmiki is celebrated as the poet harbinger in Sanskrit literature. He is the author of the epic Ramayana, based on the attribution in the text of the epic itself. He is revered as the Adi Kavi, which means First Poet, for he discovered the first śloka i.e...
's Ramayana. When Dasaratha
Dasaratha
Dasharatha was a king of Ayodhya of the Ikshvaku dynasty whose life story is narrated principally in the Hindu epic Ramayana...
comes to see Rama
Rama
Rama or full name Ramachandra is considered to be the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian...
from heaven after the war of the Ramayana, he tells Rama -
In the Mahabharata
In the Vana ParvaVana Parva
Mahabharta Book 3 Vana Parva is the book in the Mahabharata that discusses the twelve-year exile of the Pandavas in the forest....
of the Mahabharata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
, the legend of Ashtavakra is described in greater detail. On losing the game of dice with the Kaurava
Kaurava
The term Kaurava is a Sanskrit term, that means the descendants of Kuru, a legendary king who is the ancestor of many of the characters of the Mahābhārata.The term is used in the Mahābhārata with two meanings:...
s, the five Pandava
Pandava
In the Hindu epic Mahābhārata, the Pandava are the five acknowledged sons of Pandu , by his two wives Kunti and Madri. Their names are Yudhisthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva. Although, Karna is told by Lord Krishna that according to the laws and ethics he is the first son of Kunti making...
princes and Draupadi
Draupadi
In the epic Mahābhārata, Draupadi, also known as ' is the "emerged" daughter of King Drupada of Panchāla and the wife of the five Pandavas. When Yudhisthira becomes the king of Hastinapura at the end of the war, Draupadi becomes the queen of Indraprastha...
are exiled for twelve years. On their pilgrimage, they meet the sage Lomasha, who shows the river Samanga to Yudhishthira. Lomasha says that this is the same river, on bathing in which the deformed Ashtavakra was cured of his eight deformities. On being asked by Yudhishthira, Lomasha narrates to the Pandava princes the legend of Ashtavakra, which forms three chapters of the Mahabharata.
Life
The sage Uddalaka, the seer mentioned in the Chandogya UpanishadChandogya Upanishad
The Chandogya Upanishad is one of the "primary" Upanishads. Together with the Jaiminiya Upanishad Brahmana and the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad it ranks among the oldest Upanishads, dating to the Vedic Brahmana period....
, ran a school (Ashram
Ashram
Traditionally, an ashram is a spiritual hermitage. Additionally, today the term ashram often denotes a locus of Indian cultural activity such as yoga, music study or religious instruction, the moral equivalent of a studio or dojo....
) teaching the Vedas. Kahola (also spelled Kahoda) was one of his best disciples. Uddalaka was so pleased with him that he had his daughter Sujata married to him. When Sujata got pregnant, she had the desire of wanting her child to imbibe spirituality and intelligence. She began to sit in the classes taught by Uddalaka and Kahola, listening to their chanting of the Vedic Mantra
Mantra
A mantra is a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that is considered capable of "creating transformation"...
s. In India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, there is a belief that when expectant mothers expose themselves to spiritual teachings, the child in the womb hears it and gathers that knowledge and become a genius in that spiritual area after its birth.
One day, as Kahola was reciting the Vedas within the hearing distance of the child growing in the womb. The embryo was aware of the correct pronunciation of every syllable since its mother used to attend classes with rapt attention. The embryo heard the recitation of Kahola, but whenever Kahola pronounced a syllable wrong, it squirmed in distress. The embryo informed Kahola that he had pronounced the syllable wrongly as indicated by the child in the womb. This happened on eight occasions. Kahola perceived this as arrogance on the part of something, yet to manifest itself in the world. He cursed the fetus with eight deformities of the body. When the baby was born, it was crooked in eight places - the two feet, the two knees, the two hands, the chest and the head). He was named Ashtavakra, which means "one having eight bends".
Around the time Ashtavakra was born, Kahola was persuaded by Sujata to go to the court of 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...
to earn some money. In Janaka's court, Kahola was challenged to a scriptural debate (Śastrartha) by the philosopher, Vandin (also spelled Bandin). In that time, the best philosophers were invited to argue in the presence of the monarch Janaka. Vandin easily defeated Kahola and immersed the vanquished Kahola in under water. Ashtavakra was now raised by Uddalaka. Uddalaka too had a son named Shvetaketu
Shvetaketu
Svetaketu, also spelled Shvetaketu , is the Upanishadic young man, the son of sage Uddalaka, the grandson of sage Aruni, and represents the quintessential seeker of knowledge...
when Ashtavakra was born. Ashtavakra and Shvetaketu grew up together. Uddalaka, Sujata and the disciples ensured that Ashtavakra was never informed of his real father, Ashtavakra thought that Uddalaka was his father and Shvetaketu his brother. When he was twelve years old, Ashtavakra was seated on Uddalaka's lap. Shvetaketu pulled him down and informed him that it was not the lap of his father. Ashtavakra came to know the truth about his father Kahola from Sujata, He decided to confront Vandin and defeat him in an argument.
Ashtavakra and Shvetaketu made his way to 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...
's palace. Ashtavakra first faced the gatekeeper who tried to keep the young boy out. On convincing the gatekeeper that he was well versed in the scriptures and hence old, he was let in. Then Janaka tested Ashtavakra with cryptic questions which Ashtavakra answered with ease. Janaka decided to let Ashtavakra face Vandin. Vandin and Ashtavakra began the debate, with Vandin starting. They alternately composed six extempore verses on the numbers one to twelve. Then Vandin could only compose the first half of a verse on the number thirteen. Ashtavakra completed the verse by composing the second half and thus won the argument against Vandin. This unique debate is full of enigmas and latent meanings which lie under the simple counts of the numbers one to thirteen.
The condition of the contest was that if Vandin were to lose he would grant any wish of his vanquisher. Ashtavakra demanded that Vandin be drowned in water just as he forced his vanquished opponents to do. Vandin then revealed that he was the son of Varuna
Varuna
In Vedic religion, Varuna is a god of the sky, of water and of the celestial ocean, as well as a god of law and of the underworld...
(the Lord of all water bodies), and was sent incognito to land to get Rishi
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...
s to conduct a ritual that Varuna wanted to perform. By this time, Varuna's ritual was also complete. On Vandin's request, Varuna bade the sages and Brahmaṇas farewell and brought them to surface. Ashtavakra worshipped his father and was in turn praised by all the freed sages. Kahola was extremely pleased with his son. Kahola returned to his aśrama with Ashtavakra and Shvetaketu. In the presence of Sujata, Kahola asked Ashtavakra to bathe in the river Samanga. When Ashtavakra entered the river, all his crooked limbs became straight.
Ashtavakra Gita
Later Ashtavakra grew into a spiritually advanced rishi and self-realised atmanĀtman (Hinduism)
Ātman is a Sanskrit word that means 'self'. In Hindu philosophy, especially in the Vedanta school of Hinduism it refers to one's true self beyond identification with phenomena...
. He went again to 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...
and instructed King Janaka about the Self. These teachings form the content of the Ashtavakra Gita
Ashtavakra Gita
The Ashtavakra Gita or the Song of Ashtavakra, also known as Ashtavakra Samhita is an Advaita Vedanta scripture which documents a dialogue between the Perfect Master Ashtavakra and Janaka, the King of Mithila.-Significance:Ashtavakra Gita presents the traditional teachings of Advaita Vedanta...
or Ashtavakra Samhita as it is sometimes called.
Popular culture
- Ashtavakra is one of the characters in the First Act of the Sanskrit play Uttararamacaritam composed by BhavabhutiBhavabhutiBhavabhuti was an 8th century scholar of India noted for his plays and poetry, written in Sanskrit. His plays are considered equivalent to the works of Kalidasa...
in the 8th century. - The 571st volume of the Amar Chitra KathaAmar Chitra KathaAmar Chitra Katha Stories") is one of India's largest selling comic book series, with more than 90 million copies sold in 20 Indian languages. Founded in 1967, the imprint has more than 400 titles that retell stories from the great Indian epics, mythology, history, folklore, and fables in a comic...
, published in 2005, is titled Dhruva and Ashtavakra. The second half of the volume presents the narrative of Ashtavakra. - The fourteenth and last track of the 2009 album Brahmavidya: Transcendental IBrahmavidya: Transcendental IBrahmavidya: Transcendental I is the fifth studio album by Singaporean Death Metal band Rudra. The album was released in Asia on April 15th, 2009 through Trinity Records, and in Europe on July 6th, 2009 via Vic Records. It is the second installment in the Brahmavidya trilogy started by its...
by the Singaporean Death Metal band RudraRudra (band)Rudra is a Singaporean band which was formed in 1992, and plays a style of black metal-influenced death metal with interpolations and extended passages of traditional Carnatic music. Additionally, the lyrical content is derived from Sanskrit Vedic literature and philosophy with some songs...
is named Majestic Ashtavakra after Ashtavakra. The song has the first verse of the sixth chapter of Ashtavakra Gita in the end. - Ashtavakra is the protagonist of the eponymous HindiHindiStandard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
epic AshtavakraAshtavakra (epic)Aṣṭāvakra is a Hindi epic poem composed by Jagadguru Rambhadracharya in the year 2009. It consists of 864 verses in 8 cantos of 108 verses each. The poem presents the narrative of the Ṛṣi Aṣṭāvakra which is found in the Hindu scriptures of the Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahābhārata...
composed by Jagadguru Rambhadracharya in 2010. - A puppet play on Ashtavakra was staged by the Dhaatu Artist group in Ranga ShankaraRanga ShankaraRanga Shankara is one of Bangalore's best known theatres. It is located in the south Bangalore area of J.P Nagar and is run by the Sanket Trust...
in BangaloreBangaloreBengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
in 2010.