Vyāsa (
DevanāgarīDevanagari , also called Nagari , is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal. It is written from left to right, lacks distinct letter cases, and is recognizable by a distinctive horizontal line running along the tops of the letters that links them together. Devanāgarī is the main script used to...
: व्यास) is a central and revered figure in the majority of
HinduHinduism is the predominant religion of the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism is often referred to as ', a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the eternal law", by its adherents. Generic "types" of Hinduism that attempt to accommodate a variety of complex views span folk and Vedic Hinduism to bhakti tradition, as...
traditions. He is also known as
Badarayana. He is also sometimes called
Veda Vyasa (वेद व्यास, veda vyāsa), (the one who split the
VedasThe Vedas are a large body of texts originating in Ancient India. The texts are composed in Vedic Sanskrit and form the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature, and the oldest sacred texts of Hinduism....
) or
Krishna Dvaipayana (referring to his complexion and birthplace). He is accredited as the scribe of both the Vedas, and the supplementary texts such as the
PuranasThe Puranas are a group of important Hindu religious texts, notably consisting of narratives of the history of the Universe from creation to destruction, genealogies of the kings, heroes, sages, and demigods, and descriptions of Hindu cosmology, philosophy, and geography...
. A number of Vaishnava traditions regard him as an
avatarIn Hinduism, Avatar or Avatara usually implies a deliberate descent from higher spiritual realms to lower realms of existence for special purposes, often translated into English as incarnation.Avatars that are of importance are mainly those of the Supreme Being...
of
VishnuVishnu , , is the Supreme God in Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God...
. Vyasa is also considered to be one of the eight Chiranjivins (long lived, or immortals), who are still in existence according to general Hindu belief.
In the Mahabharata
Vyasa appears for the first time as the author of, and an important character in the
MahābhārataThe Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the . The epic is part of the Hindu itihāsa , and forms an important part of Hindu mythology....
. He was the son of
SatyavatiSatyavati is the great-grandmother of the Pandava and Kaurava princes, principal characters of the Mahābhārata, one of the principal texts in Hindu mythology. She is nevertheless a commoner, daughter to a ferryman or fisherman...
, daughter of a ferryman or fisherman, and the wandering sage
Parashara' is a Rigveda Mahārśi and author of many ancient Indian texts. Parāśara was the grandson of Vasishtha, the son of Shakti-muni, and the father of Vyasa....
. He was born on an island in the river
YamunaThe Yamuna is the largest tributary river of the Ganges in northern India...
. This is said to be near
KalpiKalpi is a city and a municipal board in Jalaun district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is on the right bank of the Yamuna.-History:...
in JalaunJalaun is a city and a municipal board in Jalaun district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The town was formerly the residence of a Maratha governor, but never the headquarters of the district, which are at Orai.-History:...
district in Uttar PradeshUttar Pradesh , [often referred to as U.P.] is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 190 million people,...
. Many also point out that the sage was born on the confluence of the rivers Koel, Sankha and Brahmani at the present steel city of RourkelaRourkela is a city located in the northwestern tip of the Indian state of Orissa at the heart of a rich mineral belt. It is the third largest city in Orissa. It is surrounded by a range of hills and encircled by rivers. One of the largest steel plants of the Steel Authority of India Limited is...
in Northern OrissaOrissa , is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of ancient republican nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Indian Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC, that led to a turning point in the Emperor's life when deeply saddened by the bloodshed...
. The place is named after him as Vedvyas. He was dark-complexioned and hence may be called by the name Krishna
(black), and also the name Dwaipayana, meaning 'island-born'.
Vyasa was grandfather to the Kauravas and Pandavas. Both
DhritarashtraIn the Mahābhārata Dhritarashtra was the son born to Vichitravirya's first wife Ambika. He was fathered by Vyasa. This blind king of Hastinapura was father to a hundred children by his wife Gandhari . These children came to be known as the Kauravas...
and
PanduIn the Mahābhārata epic, Pandu is the son of Vichitravirya and his second wife, Ambalika from Vyasa. He is more popularly known as the father of the Pandavas.-Birth:...
, adopted as the sons of Vichitravirya by the royal family, were fathered by him. He had a third son,
ViduraVidura was half-brother to Dhritarashtra and Pandu. He was a son of a maid-servant who served the queens of Hastinapura, Ambika and Ambalika...
, by a serving maid.
Veda Vyasa
Hindus traditionally hold that Vyasa categorised the primordial single Veda into four. Hence he was called Veda Vyasa, or "Splitter of the Vedas," the splitting being a feat that allowed people to understand the divine knowledge of the Veda. The word vyasa means split, differentiate, or describe.
It has been debated whether Vyasa was a single person or a class of scholars who did the splitting. The
Vishnu PuranaThe Vishnu Purana is a religious Hindu text and one of eighteen Puranas. It is considered one of the most important Puranas and has been given the name Puranaratna...
has an interesting theory about Vyasa. The Hindu view of the universe is that of a cyclic phenomenon that comes into existence and dissolves repeatedly. Each cycle is presided over by a number of
ManuIn Hindu traditions, Manu is a title accorded to the progenitor of mankind, and also the very first king to rule this earth, who saved mankind from the universal flood. He was absolutely honest which was why he was initially known as "Satyavrata", .Mahabharata says: "And Manu was imbued with great...
s, one for each
ManvantaraManvantara or Manuvantara , or age of a Manu , the Hindu progenitor of mankind, is an astronomical period of time measurement. Manvantara is a Sanskrit sandhi, a combination of words manu and antara, manu-antara or manvantara, literally meaning the duration of a Manu, or his life span .Each...
, that has four ages,
YugaYuga in Hindu philosophy is the name of an 'epoch' or 'era' within a cycle of four ages. These are the Satya Yuga , the Treta Yuga, the Dvapara Yuga and finally the Kali Yuga. According to Hindu cosmology, life in the universe is created, destroyed once every 4.1 to 8.2 billion years , which is...
s of declining virtues. The
Dvapara YugaDvapara Yuga or Dwapara Yuga is the third out of four yugas, or ages, described in the scriptures of Hinduism. This yuga comes after Treta Yuga and is followed by Kali Yuga. According to the Puranas this yuga ended at the moment when Krishna returned to his eternal abode of Vaikuntha.There are only...
is the third Yuga. The Vishnu Purana (Book 3, Ch 3) says:
In every third world age (Dvapara), Vishnu, in the person of Vyasa, in order to promote the good of mankind, divides the Veda, which is properly but one, into many portions. Observing the limited perseverance, energy, and application of mortals, he makes the Veda fourfold, to adapt it to their capacities; and the bodily form which he assumes, in order to effect that classification, is known by the name of Veda-vyasa. Of the different Vyasas in the present Manvantara and the branches which they have taught, you shall have an account.
Twenty-eight times have the Vedas been arranged by the great Rishis in the Vaivasvata Manvantara... and consequently eight and twenty Vyasas have passed away; by whom, in the respective periods, the Veda has been divided into four. The first... distribution was made by Svayambhu (Brahma) himself; in the second, the arranger of the Veda (Vyasa) was Prajapati... (and so on up to twenty-eight).
Author of the Mahābhārata
Vyasa is traditionally known as author of this epic. But he also features as an important character in it. His mother later married the king of
HastinapuraHastinapur is a town and a nagar panchayat in Meerut district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.-History:Hastinapura was the capital of the kingdom of the Kauravas, belonging to the Kuru dynasty of kings....
, and had two sons. Both sons died without an issue and taking recourse to an ancient practice called
NiyogaNiyoga is an ancient Hindu tradition, when a woman would request and appoint a person for helping her bear a child. According to this Hindu tradition the man who was appointed must be or would most likely be a revered person...
where a chosen man can father sons with the widow of a person who dies issueless, she requests Vyasa to produce sons on behalf of her dead son
VichitraviryaVichitravirya in the Hindu epic Mahabharata is the younger son of queen Satyavatī and king Śaṅtanu. His elder brother, Chitrāngada, had initially succeeded their father to the throne of Hastinapura, but when he died childless, Vichitravirya succeeded him.Vichitravirya was still a child when he was...
.
Vyasa fathers the princes
DhritarashtraIn the Mahābhārata Dhritarashtra was the son born to Vichitravirya's first wife Ambika. He was fathered by Vyasa. This blind king of Hastinapura was father to a hundred children by his wife Gandhari . These children came to be known as the Kauravas...
and
PanduIn the Mahābhārata epic, Pandu is the son of Vichitravirya and his second wife, Ambalika from Vyasa. He is more popularly known as the father of the Pandavas.-Birth:...
(by
AmbikaAmbika was the daughter of King of Kashi and wife of Vichitravirya, King of Hastinapur.Along with her sisters Amba and Ambalika, she was taken by force by Bhishma from their Swayamvara...
and
AmbalikaAmbalika was the daughter of the King of Kashi, and the wife of Vichitravirya, King of Hastinapur.Along with her sisters Amba and Ambika, she was taken by force by Bhishma from their Swayamvara, the latter having challenged and defeated the assembled royalty...
, the wives of the dead king
VichitraviryaVichitravirya in the Hindu epic Mahabharata is the younger son of queen Satyavatī and king Śaṅtanu. His elder brother, Chitrāngada, had initially succeeded their father to the throne of Hastinapura, but when he died childless, Vichitravirya succeeded him.Vichitravirya was still a child when he was...
). Vyasa told them that they should come alone near him. First did Ambika, but because of shyness and fear she closed her eyes. Vyasa told Satyavati that her child would be blind. Later this child was named Dhritarāshtra. Thus Satyavati sent Ambālika and warned her that she should remain calm. But Ambālika's face became pale because of fear. Vyasa told her that child would suffer from anaemia, and he would not be fit enough to rule the kingdom. Later this child was known as Pāndu. Then Vyasa told Satyavati to send one of them again so that a healthy child can be born. This time Ambika and Ambālika sent a maid in the place of themselves. The maid was quite calm and composed, and she got a healthy child later named as
ViduraVidura was half-brother to Dhritarashtra and Pandu. He was a son of a maid-servant who served the queens of Hastinapura, Ambika and Ambalika...
. While these are 'legally' not his sons, another son
ŚukaThe Suka was a unique fiddle that was played vertically, on the knee or hanging from a strap, and the strings were stopped at the side with the fingernails; similar to the Gadulka. The body of the instrument was very similar to the modern violin, but the neck was very wide, and the pegbox was crude...
, born of his wife, sage Jābāli's daughter Pinjalā (Vatikā), is considered his true spiritual heir. He was thus the grandfather of both the warring parties of the
MahābhārataThe Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the . The epic is part of the Hindu itihāsa , and forms an important part of Hindu mythology....
, the
KauravaThe term Kaurava is a Sanskrit term, that means a descendant 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 and the
PāndavaIn the Hindu epic Mahābhārata, the Pandava brothers are the five acknowledged sons of Pandu , by his two wives Kunti and Madri. Their names are Yudhishtira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva. All five brothers were married to one woman, Draupadi...
s. He makes occasional appearances in the story as a spiritual guide to the young princes.
In the first book of the Mahābhārata, it is described that Vyasa asked
GaneshaGanesha , also spelled Ganesa or Ganesh and also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most widely worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon. His image is found throughout India. Hindu sects worship him regardless of affiliations...
to aid him in writing the text, however Ganesha imposed a condition that he would do so only if Vyasa narrated the story without pause. To which Vyasa then made a counter-condition that Ganesha must understand the verse before he transcribed it. This is supposed to explain the complicated
SanskritSanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India. It is also declared as a classical language by the government of India....
used in some sections of the Mahābhārata, recited by Vyasa when he wanted a break.
Thus Lord VedVyas had narrated the whole Mahabharta & All Upanishads and 18 Puranas, Lord Ganesha Wrote
Vyasa is supposed to have meditated and authored the epic by the foothills of the river Beas (Vipasa) in the Punjab region.
Vyasa's Jaya
Vyasa's Jaya, the core of Mahābhārata is structured in the form of a dialogue between
DhritarashtraIn the Mahābhārata Dhritarashtra was the son born to Vichitravirya's first wife Ambika. He was fathered by Vyasa. This blind king of Hastinapura was father to a hundred children by his wife Gandhari . These children came to be known as the Kauravas...
(the Kuru king and the father of the Kauravas, who opposed the Pāndavas in the
Kurukshetra WarThe Kurukshetra War is the war between the Kauravas and Pandavas, which forms an essential component of the Hindu epic Mahābhārata...
) and
SanjayaSanjaya is a character from the ancient Indian epic Mahābhārata.In Mahabharata, a story of war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas, the blind king Dhritarashtra is the father of the principals of the Kaurava side. Sanjaya is Dhritarashtra's advisor and also his charioteer...
, his advisor and chariot driver. Sanjaya narrates each incident of the Kurukshetra War, fought in 18 days, as and when it happened. Dhritarāshtra sometimes asks questions and doubts and sometimes laments, knowing about the destruction caused by the war, to his sons, friends and kinsmen. He also feels guilty, due to his own role, that led to this war, destructive to the entire Indian subcontinent.
In the beginning Sanjaya gives a description of the various continents of the Earth, the other planets, and focuses on the Indian Subcontinent and gives an elaborate list of hundreds of kingdoms, tribes, provinces, cities, towns, villages, rivers, mountains, forests etc of the (ancient) Indian Subcontinent (Bhārata Varsha). He also explains about the 'military formations adopted by each side on each day, the death of each hero and the details of each war-racings. Some 18 chapters of Vyasa's Jaya constitutes the
Bhagavad GitaThe Bhagavad Gita is one of the most important Hindu scriptures. It is revered as a sacred scripture of Hinduism, and considered as one of the most important philosophical classics of the world. The Bhagavad Gita comprises 700 verses, and is a part of the Mahabharata...
, the sacred text of the Hindus. Thus, this work of Vyasa, called Jaya deals with diverse subjects like geography, history, warfare, religion and morality.
Ugrasrava Sauti's Mahābhārata
The final phase of Vyasa's work culminated as
Mahābhārata, structured as a narration by
Ugrasrava SautiUgrashravas was the narrator of several Puranas, including Mahābhārata, Bhagavata Purana, Harivamsa, and Padma Purana, with the narrations typically taking place before the sages gathered in Naimisha Forest. He was the son of Lomaharshana , and a disciple of Vyasa, the author of Mahābhārata...
(Sutji) who was a professional story teller, to an assembly of sages (
rishiA rishi denotes a poet-sage through whom the Vedic hymns flowed, credited also as divine scribes. According to post-Vedic tradition the rishi is a "seer" or "shaman" to whom the Vedas were "originally revealed" through states of higher consciousness...
s) like Saunaka. Bharata is embedded inside it, and within it Jaya.
Reference to writing
Within the Mahābhārata
, there is a tradition in which Vyasa wishes to write down or inscribe his work:
The Grandsire Brahma (creator of the universe) comes and tells Vyasa to get the help of Ganapati for his task. Ganapati writes down the stanzas recited by Vyasa from memory and thus the Mahābhārata is inscribed or written. Ganapati could not cope up with Vyasa's speed and he misses many words or even stanzas.
The latest portions of the Mahābhārata are estimated to date from roughly the 4th century BC, the time of the introduction of writing to India.
There is some evidence however that writing may have been known earlier based on archeological findings of
styliA stylus is a writing utensil. The word is also used for a computer accessory . It usually refers to a narrow elongated staff, similar to a modern ballpoint pen. Many styluses are heavily curved to be held more easily...
in the Painted Grey Ware culture, dated between 1100 BC and 700 BC. and archeological evidence of the Brahmi script being used from at least 600 BC.
The difficulty faced by Ganapati (
GaneshaGanesha , also spelled Ganesa or Ganesh and also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most widely worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon. His image is found throughout India. Hindu sects worship him regardless of affiliations...
) in writing down Mahābhārata as described in the tradition, could be real, and was most probably faced by those people who first attempted to write it down as some reciter recited it continuously. This is because, the reciter will not be able to stop the recitation in between and resume it, as the lines are committed to his memory as a continuous recording.
(The name Ganapati, was used in ancient days, to denote the head of a republic. In ancient India, there were kingdoms
ruled by kings or Rajas
as well as republics
ruled by elected heads or Ganapatis.
KambojasKamboja or Kamvoja is one of the western kingdoms in the epic Mahabharata. Western kingdoms were cold countries and people used blankets. They also reared sheep and drank sheep milk. Kamboja Horses were of excellent quality. Their horses and even horsemen were used in the wars between kings of...
were a republic. To some extent
DwārakaIn the Mahabharata, Dvaraka is the capital of the Yadavas who ruled the Anarta Kingdom....
had republican style of rule. Ganapati who wrote down Mahābhārata, probably was one of these republic chiefs, well educated in the art of writing or inscription)
In the Puranas
Vyasa is also credited with the writing of the eighteen major, if not all, Purāṇas.His son Shuka is the narrator of the major Purāṇa Bhagavat-Purāṇa.
In Buddhism
Within
BuddhismBuddhism, as traditionally conceived, is a path of salvation attained through insight into the ultimate nature of reality. It encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha...
Vyasa appears as Kanha-dipayana (the
Pali
version of his name) in two
JatakaThe Jātaka Tales also known in other languages refer to a voluminous body of folklore-like literature native to India concerning the previous births of the Buddha...
tales: the Kanha-dipayana Jataka and Ghata Jataka. Whilst the former in which he appears as the
BodhisattvaIn Buddhism, a bodhisattva means either "enlightened existence " or "enlightenment-being" or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one for enlightenment ." Another translation is...
has no relation to his tales from the Hindu works, his role in the latter one has parallels in an important event in the Mahabhrata.
In the 16th book of the epic,
Mausala ParvaMausala Parva denotes the tragical incidents of Shri Krishna and his tribesmen. This Parva is the third last Parva preceded by Ashramavasika Parva and Ashvamedhika Parva Parva and preceding the last two Parvas Mahaprasthanika Parva and Svargarohana Parva...
, the end of the
VrishniVrishni s were an ancient clan who claimed their descent from Vrishni, a descendent of Yadu. It is believed that Vrishni was son of Satvata, a descendant of Yadu, the son of Yayati. He had two wives, Gandhari and Madri. He has a son named Devamidhusha by his wife Madri. Vasudeva, the father of...
s, clansmen of Vyasa's namesake and Vishnu incarnate
KrishnaKrishna is a deity worshipped across many traditions in Hinduism in a variety of perspectives...
is narrated.
The epic says:
One day, the Vrishni heroes .. saw Vishvamitra,
KanwaKanwa was an ancient Hindu rishi, to whom some of the hymns of the Rig Veda are ascribed. He is sometimes included in the list of the seven sages .-References:*A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology & Religion by John Dowson...
and
NaradaNarada or Narada Muni is a divine sage from the Hindu tradition, who plays a prominent role in a number of the Puranic texts, especially in the Bhagavata Purana, and in the Ramayana. Narada is portrayed as a travelling monk with the ability to visit distant worlds or planets, lokas in Sanskrit...
arrived at Dwaraka. Afflicted by the rod of chastisement wielded by the deities, those heroes, causing Samba to be disguised like a woman, approached those ascetics and said, ‘This one is the wife of Vabhru of immeasurable energy who is desirous of having a son. Ye Rishis, do you know for certain what this one will bring forth?Those ascetics, attempted to be thus deceived, said: ‘This heir of Vasudeva, by name Samba, will bring forth a fierce iron bolt for the destruction of the Vrishnis and the Andhakas.
The important Bhagavata PuranaThe Bhāgavata Purāṇa is one of the "Maha" Puranic texts of Hindu literature, with its primary focus on bhakti to the incarnations of Vishnu, particularly Krishna. The Sanskrit text comprises twelve skandas and 13,216 verses by one count...
(book 11) too narrates the incident in a similar manner and names the sages as Visvāmitra, Asita, Kanva, Durvāsa, Bhrigu, Angirâ, Kashyapa, Vâmadeva, Atri, Vasishthha, along with Nârada and others
- it does not explicitly include Vyasa in the list.
The Ghata Jataka has a different spin on it: The Vrishnis, wishing to test Kanha-dipayana's powers of clairvoyance, played a practical joke on him. They tied a pillow to the belly of a young lad, and dressing him up as a woman, took him to the ascetic and asked when the baby would be born. The ascetic replied that on the seventh day the person before him would give birth to a knot of acacia wood which would destroy the race of Vásudeva. The youths thereupon fell on him and
killed him, but his prophecy came true .
Notably, he is not the Bodhisattva in the Ghata Jataka.
In the Arthashastra
The only non-religious book in which Vyasa has an interesting entry is the Arthashastra of Chanakya. In chapter 6, it says:
'Whosoever is of reverse character, whoever has not his organs of sense under his control, will soon perish, though possessed of the whole earth bounded by the four quarters. For example: Bhoja, known also by the name, Dándakya, making a lascivious attempt on a Bráhman maiden, perished along with his kingdom and relations; so also Karála, the Vaideha... Vátápi in his attempt under the influence of overjoy to attack Agastya, as well as the corporation of the Vrishnis in their attempt against Dwaipáyan.
This reference matches the Jataka version in including Vyasa as the sage attacked by the Vrishnis, though Vyasa does not die here.
Author of Brahma Sutra
The Brahma Sutra is attributed to Badarayana — which makes him the proponent of the crest-jewel school of Hindu philosophy, i.e.,
VedantaVedanta was originally a word used as a synonym for that part of the Veda known also as the Upanishads. The name is a sandhied form of Veda-anta = "Veda-end" = "the appendix to the Vedas"...
. As the island on which Vyasa was born is said to have been covered by Badara (Indian jujube) trees, he is known as
Badarayana. Though traditionally, Vyasa is considered the Badarayana who wrote the Sutras, many historians think these were two different personalities.
Author of Yoga Bhashya
This text is a commentary on the Yoga Sutras of
PatanjaliPatañjali is the compiler of the Yoga Sutras, an important collection of aphorisms on Yoga practice, and also the author of the Mahābhāṣya, a major commentary on Panini's Ashtadhyayi...
. Vyasa is credited with this work also, though this is impossible, if Vyasa's immortality is not considered, as it is a later text.
External links