Brahmavadini
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Brahmavadini
In Hindu philosophy, Brahmavadini ("women ascetics"), are women who strive for the highest philosophical knowledge of Brahman, that is, those who strive for greater universal consciousness. This is opposed to a ''Sadyovadhu'', who is normally a sage's wife, and dedicated to domesticity and the welfare of her family. The Sanskrit word ''brahmavadini'' is the female equivalent of ''brahmavadi''. According to Monier-Williams’s ''Sanskrit-English Dictionary'', "brahmavādín" means ‘discoursing on sacred texts, a defender or expounder of the ''Veda'', one who asserts that all things are to be identified with Brahman’. It doesn't mean "one who speaks like God". Notable Brahmavadini Notable Brahmavadini include: Vak Ambhrini, Lopamudra, Vishwawara, Sikta, Ghosha, and Maitreyi. Lopamudra was the wife of the sage Agastya. A hymn in the Rigveda is attributed to her. Maitreyi, the wife of Yajnavalkya, is accredited with about ten hymns in Rig Veda. Two ''sukta''s (hymns) of the ...
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Ghosha
Ghosha ( sa, घोषा) was an ancient Vedic period Indian female philosopher and seer. From a young age she suffered from a skin ailment which had disfigured her. Ashvins, Ashvini Kumars cured her and restored her youthfulness, health and beauty. As a result, she got married and had a son. She was proficient in the Vedas and had even scripted two hymns in the Rigveda. She was called as ''mantradrika'' meaning well versed in mantras. She was also known as a Brahmavadini or speaker or proclaimer of Brahmana and led a purposeful spiritual life. Biography Ghosha was born during the Vedic period in India. Her father was Kakshivat and grandfather was Dirghatamas, Dīrghatamas and both of them had written hymns in the Rigveda. She was suffering from a skin ailment and was confined to the house attending to her father. According to a hymn, she suffered from leprosy, which had disfigured her. She was thus a celibate for a long period. She fervently prayed to Ashvins, the divine physici ...
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Lopamudra
Lopamudra, ( sa, लोपामुद्रा) also known as Kaushitaki and Varaprada, was a philosopher according to ancient Vedic Indian literature. She was the wife of the sage Agastya who is believed to have lived in the Rigveda period (1950 BC-1100 BC) as many hymns have been attributed as her contribution to this Veda. She was not only the consort of Agastya but a Rishiki in her own right, as she was the well known Rishiki who visualized the "Hadi Panchadasi" mantra of the Srikul Shakta tradition of Hinduism. She was one of the prominent Brahmavadinis. There are three versions of Lopamudra's legend; one is in the Rigveda Hymns; the second is in the epic Mahabharata (Vanaparva: Tirtha-yatra Parva), where there is an elaborate version with a mention that Agastya Rishi did penance at ''Gangadwara'' (Haridwar), with the help of his wife, Lopamudra (the princess of Vidarbha). According to this legend, Lopamudra was created by sage Agastya with the most graceful parts of a ...
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Hindu Philosophy
Hindu philosophy encompasses the philosophies, world views and teachings of Hinduism that emerged in Ancient India which include six systems ('' shad-darśana'') – Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mimamsa and Vedanta.Andrew Nicholson (2013), Unifying Hinduism: Philosophy and Identity in Indian Intellectual History, Columbia University Press, , pages 2–5 In Indian tradition, the word used for philosophy is Darshana (Viewpoint or perspective), from the Sanskrit root ('to see, to experience'). These are also called the Astika (theistic) philosophical traditions and are those that accept the Vedas as an authoritative, important source of knowledge. Ancient and medieval India was also the source of philosophies that share philosophical concepts but rejected the Vedas, and these have been called (heterodox or non-orthodox) Indian philosophies. Nāstika Indian philosophies include Buddhism, Jainism, Chārvāka, Ājīvika, and others.P Bilimoria (2000), Indian Philosophy (E ...
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Brahman
In Hinduism, ''Brahman'' ( sa, ब्रह्मन्) connotes the highest universal principle, the ultimate reality in the universe.P. T. Raju (2006), ''Idealistic Thought of India'', Routledge, , page 426 and Conclusion chapter part XII In major schools of Hindu philosophy, it is the material, efficient, formal and final cause of all that exists.For dualism school of Hinduism, see: Francis X. Clooney (2010), ''Hindu God, Christian God: How Reason Helps Break Down the Boundaries between Religions'', Oxford University Press, , pages 51–58, 111–115;For monist school of Hinduism, see: B. Martinez-Bedard (2006), ''Types of Causes in Aristotle and Sankara'', Thesis – Department of Religious Studies (Advisors: Kathryn McClymond and Sandra Dwyer), Georgia State University, pages 18–35 It is the pervasive, infinite, eternal truth, consciousness and bliss which does not change, yet is the cause of all changes. ''Brahman'' as a metaphysical concept refers to the single bi ...
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Monier Monier-Williams
Sir Monier Monier-Williams (; né Williams; 12 November 1819 – 11 April 1899) was a British scholar who was the second Boden Professor of Sanskrit at University of Oxford, Oxford University, England. He studied, documented and taught Languages of Asia, Asian languages, especially Sanskrit, Persian language, Persian and Hindustani language, Hindustani. Early life Monier Williams was born in Mombai, Bombay, the son of Colonel Monier Williams, Surveyor general, surveyor-general in the Bombay presidency. His surname was "Williams" until 1887, when he added his given name to his surname to create the hyphenated "Monier-Williams". In 1822, he was sent to England to be educated at private schools at Hove, Chelsea and Finchley. He was educated at King's College School, Balliol College, Oxford (1838–40), the East India Company College (1840–41) and University College, Oxford (1841–44). He took a fourth-class honours degree in Literae Humaniores in 1844. He married Julia Granth ...
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Maitreyi
Maitreyi ( sa, मैत्रेयी) ("Wise one") was an Indian philosopher who lived during the later Vedic period in ancient India. She is mentioned in the ''Brihadaranyaka Upanishad'' as one of two wives of the Vedic sage Yajnavalkya; she is estimated to have lived around the 8th century BCE. In the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata'' and the Gṛhyasūtras, however, Maitreyi is described as an Advaita philosopher who never married. In ancient Sanskrit literature, she is known as a ''brahmavadini'' (an expounder of the ''Veda''). Maitreyi appears in ancient Indian texts, such as in a dialogue where she explores the Hindu concept of Atman (soul or self) in a dialogue with Yajnavalkya in the ''Brihadaranyaka Upanishad''. According to this dialogue, love is driven by a person's soul, and Maitreyi discusses the nature of Atman and Brahman and their unity, the core of Advaita philosophy. This Maitreyi-Yajnavalkya dialogue is the topic of Sureshvara's '' varttika'', a commentary. M ...
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Agastya
Agastya ( kn, ಅಗಸ್ತ್ಯ, ta, அகத்தியர், sa, अगस्त्य, te, అగస్త్యుడు, ml, അഗസ്ത്യൻ, hi, अगस्त्य) was a revered Indian sage of Hinduism. In the Indian tradition, he is a noted recluse and an influential scholar in diverse languages of the Indian subcontinent. He and his wife Lopamudra are the celebrated authors of hymns 1.165 to 1.191 in the Sanskrit text ''Rigveda'' and other Vedic literature. Agastya is considered to be the father of Siddha medicine. Agastya appears in numerous itihasas and Puranas including the major ''Ramayana'' and ''Mahabharata''. He is one of the seven most revered rishis (the Saptarishi) in the Vedic texts, and is revered as one of the Tamil Siddhar in the Shaivism tradition, who invented an early grammar of the Old Tamil language, Agattiyam, playing a pioneering role in the development of Tampraparniyan medicine and spirituality at Saiva centres in pro ...
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Rigveda
The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' ( ', from ' "praise" and ' "knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts (''śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only one Shakha of the many survive today, namely the Śakalya Shakha. Much of the contents contained in the remaining Shakhas are now lost or are not available in the public forum. The ''Rigveda'' is the oldest known Vedic Sanskrit text. Its early layers are among the oldest extant texts in any Indo-European language. The sounds and texts of the ''Rigveda'' have been orally transmitted since the 2nd millennium BCE. Philological and linguistic evidence indicates that the bulk of the ''Rigveda'' Samhita was composed in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent (see) Rigvedic rivers), most likely between 1500 and 1000 BCE, although a wider approximation of 19001200 BCE has also been given. The text is layered, consisting of the ...
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Yajnavalkya
Yajnavalkya or Yagyavalkya ( sa, याज्ञवल्क्य, ) is a Hindu Vedic sage figuring in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (c. 700 BCE)., Quote: "Yajnavalkya, a Vedic sage, taught..."Ben-Ami Scharfstein (1998), ''A comparative history of world philosophy: from the Upanishads to Kant'', Albany: State University of New York Press, pp. 9-11 Yajnavalkya proposes and debates metaphysical questions about the nature of existence, consciousness and impermanence, and expounds the epistemic doctrine of neti neti ("not this, not this") to discover the universal Self and Ātman. Texts attributed to him include the ''Yajnavalkya Smriti'', ''Yoga Yajnavalkya'' and some texts of the Vedanta school. He is also mentioned in Brahma puran and various Brahmanas and Aranyakas. Setting The ''Brihadaranyaka Upanishad'' is dated at c. 700 BCE,. Staal notes that though the name Yajnavalkya is derived from ''yajna'', which connotes ritual, Yajnavalkya is referred to as "a thinker, not a ri ...
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Rig Veda
The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' ( ', from ' "praise" and ' "knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts (''śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only one Shakha of the many survive today, namely the Śakalya Shakha. Much of the contents contained in the remaining Shakhas are now lost or are not available in the public forum. The ''Rigveda'' is the oldest known Vedic Sanskrit text. Its early layers are among the oldest extant texts in any Indo-European language. The sounds and texts of the ''Rigveda'' have been orally transmitted since the 2nd millennium BCE. Philological and linguistic evidence indicates that the bulk of the ''Rigveda'' Samhita was composed in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent (see) Rigvedic rivers), most likely between 1500 and 1000 BCE, although a wider approximation of 19001200 BCE has also been given. The text is layered, consisting of the ...
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