Jamadagni

Jamadagni
Jamadagni
Parashurama avenges his dead father Jamadagni.
AffiliationSaptarishi
WeaponSharanga
TextsMahabharata, Puranas
Genealogy
ParentsRichika (father), Satyavati (mother)
SpouseRenuka
ChildrenṚumaṇvān, Suhotra, Vasu, Viśvāvasu, and Parashurama

Jamadagni (Sanskrit: जमदग्नि, lit.'great fire')[1] is a sage in Hindu literature. He is regarded in Hindu tradition to be one of the Saptarishi (Seven Vedic sages) in the 7th, and the current age of Manvantara.[2]

He is a descendant of the sage Bhrigu, one of the Prajapatis created by Brahma, the creator deity. Jamadagni has five children with his wife, Renuka, the youngest of whom is Parashurama, an avatar of Vishnu.

  1. ^ The Illustrated Weekly of India. Published for the proprietors, Bennett, Coleman & Company, Limited, at the Times of India Press. 1975. p. 11.
  2. ^ Avalon, Arthur (Sir John Woodroffe) (1913, reprint 1972) (tr.) Tantra of the Great Liberation (Mahāanirvāna Tantra), New York: Dover Publications, ISBN 0-486-20150-3, p. xli: The Rishi are seers who know, and by their knowledge are the makers of shastra and "see" all mantras. The word comes from the root rish Rishati-prāpnoti sarvvang mantrang jnānena pashyati sangsārapārangvā, etc. The seven great Rishi or saptarshi of the first manvantara are Marichi, Atri, Angiras, Pulaha, Kratu, Pulastya, and Vashishtha. In other manvantara there are other sapta-rshi. In the present manvantara the seven are Kashyapa, Atri, Vashishtha, Vishvamitra, Gautama, Jamdagnini, Bharadvaja. To the Rishi the Vedas were revealed. Vyasa taught the Rigveda so revealed to Paila, the Yajurveda to Vaishampayana, the Samaveda to Jaimini, Atharvaveda to Samantu, and Itihasa and Purana to Suta. The three chief classes of Rishi are the Brahmarshi, born of the mind of Brahma, the Devarshi of lower rank, and Rajarshi or Kings who became Rishis through their knowledge and austerities, such as Janaka, Ritaparna, etc. Thc Shrutarshi are makers of Shastras, as Sushruta. The Kandarshi are of the Karmakanda, such as Jaimini.