Rsis of Rgveda

Ṛṣis, the Poets of the Ṛgveda

The ṛṣis are the poets of the hymns of the Ṛgveda. Their poems follow the inherited patterns of Indo-Iranian, and sometimes even Indo-European, poetics, which, however, must be deduced from the vedic texts themselves. To some extent, the ṛṣis have described their composition technique in the very hymns they composed: they strove to compose ever new hymns to the deities  and also in praise of their sponsors, local noblemen and chieftains, by whom they expected to be rewarded with cattle and gold, and occasionally, household slaves. The compositions also indicate that the ṛṣis were in competition with one another, criticizing the work of other poets. It is thus clear that they were active poets (also called brahmán, vipra, and kavi) and not, as later Hindu tradition claims, merely the “hearers” (śrotṛ) of the eternally existing (apauruṣeya) Veda (Śruti).
Their traditional poetic craft was lost soon after the completion of the Ṛgveda, though some simpler forms, such as verses dealing with the ritual and the praise of chieftains, persisted. (Much information on the vedic ṛṣis has been collected by A. Macdonell and B. Keith in their Vedic Index.)

Poet Families and Clans

Among the ṛṣis, a few old clans stand out, such as the Aṅgiras, Atharvan, and Bhṛgu, and many of the rgvedic poets are regarded as their descendants. The most prominent ones are the “seven ṛṣis.”
The name Aṅgiras probably is related to Greek angelos and Old Persian angara, both of which mean “messenger.” They are the prototype of the vedic ṛṣis and are already legendary and mythical in the early vedic texts. In the Ṛgveda, they are called “sons of heaven.” They are closely allied with Bṛhaspati, the “Lord of Poetical Formulations” (root bṛh-, bráhman). As such, they helped Indra in his primordial deed of opening the Vala cave, releasing the cows (an image of the dawn, Uṣas) and thus bringing light to the world. They did so by reciting poems outside the cave and by imitating (with sympathetic magic) the sound of the cows inside. Thus, they are at the same time poets and magicians, a tradition that has crystallized both in the hymns of the Ṛgveda and in the Atharvaveda, whose major composers are said to be Aṅgiras’ descendants. The late vedic index to the Ṛgveda, the (Sarva)Anukramaṇī, calls the ninth book their composition, and the Atharvaveda itself was originally called Ātharvāṅgirasa ([The Work] of the Atharvans and Aṅgiras).
Atharvan is another old priest of the Indo-Iranian age (c. 2000 BCE), and one of the first to establish sacrifice ( yajña ). As Aṅgiras is the ancestor of the Āṅgirasa clan, Atharvan is that of the Ātharvaṇa. Both are also regarded as ancestors of various other ṛṣis, like the Bhṛgus. The name atharvan is rather old, at least of Indo-Iranian age, as the Zoroastrian texts know of an āϑrauuan “priest.” However, vedic Atharvan is not related to Avestan ātar (fire), but derived from another Indo-Iranian word, athar-van. Therefore, he is not a fire priest, as older works assert. Atharvan’s son is the famous Dadhyañc, who knew of the sacrificial secret of mead (madhu), which he divulged – through a horse’s head – to the Aśvins, the vedic twin gods.
Bhṛgu is still another old ṛṣi ancestor who is mentioned together with the Aṅgiras. Later vedic texts see him as a son of the god Varuṇa. He is connected with the theft of fire, together with Mātariśvan, and is reported to have kindled it. Later tradition makes him the ancestor of a number of ṛṣi clans. The descendants of Bhṛgu, the Bhārgava, were important in the history of the collection and redaction of the Mahābhārata epic.
However, all these primordial ṛṣis and priests – the Aṅgiras, Atharvans, and Bhṛguṣ – are not counted among the famous seven ṛṣis. These are mentioned right from the Ṛgveda onwards, and they are called “our fathers” (pitaraḥ). They have been identified with the seven stars of the Big Dipper (Ursa Maior) from rgvedic times onwards. However, the older name of this asterism was “the (great) bear” or rather “the bears” (ṛkas, as also in Greek myth). The bears still appear at Ṛgveda 1.24.10, and their memory is kept as late as Śatapathabrāhmaṇa 2.1.2.1–5 (kṛttikās, formerly the wives of the bears) and Taittirīyāraṇyaka 2.11.2.
In the closely related Avestan tradition (Yašt 8.12; 12.28; 13.60), the seven stars were called hapto-iriṅga (the seven signs), which would correspond to saptaliṅga in Sanskrit. In view of this, it remains unclear how the change from the seven bears to the seven ṛṣis was made. They first appear in the Ṛgveda (10.82.2) under the name “the seven sages” (saptarṣis). It is noteworthy that a tradition of “seven sages” also existed in old Mesopotamia and that there is an enigmatic seal from the Indus civilization that shows a mythological scene with seven figures in front of a deity. However, the number seven is a standard one in ancient Near Eastern and even rgvedic myth (where it occurs next to the northern, shamanic tradition of nine). The seven ṛṣis of the Ṛgveda may thus only accidentally be aligned with the seven priests (saptahotṛs) of the Ṛgveda. The seven ṛṣis were humans, not deities, but were finally admitted to heaven, which is, as Jaiminīyabrāhmaṇa 2.302 asserts, “the best of places that the seven ṛṣis obtained.”
The actual names of the seven ṛṣis are first mentioned in early post-rgvedic texts (Atharvaveda, Brāhmaṇas). They differ to some extent from those of the ṛṣi authors of the major “Family Books” of the Ṛgveda (books 2–7, or rather 1.51–8), who are Gṛtsamāda, Viśvāmitra, Vāmadeva, Atri, Bharadvāja, and Vasiṣṭha (or, with the inclusion of 1.51–8, Aṅgiras and Kaṇva). However, Jaiminīyabrāhmaṇa 2.218–221 has Vasiṣṭha, Bharadvāja, Jamadagni, Gotama, Atri, Viśvāmitra, and Agastya (who is “excluded from the Kuru-Pañcālas”), while Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣad 2.2.6 (see also Atharvaveda 10.8.9) has a slightly different list: Gotama and Bharadvāja, Viśvāmitra and Jamadagni, Vasiṣṭha and Kaśyapa, as well as Atri, while the late Gopathabrāhmana 1.2.8 has Vasiṣṭha, Viśvāmitra, Jamadagni, Gotama, Bharadvāja, Guṅgu, Agastya, and Kaśyapa.
Among these, Agastya, Gotama, Jamadagni, and Kaśyapa are known as rgvedic poets of larger or smaller sections, mostly found in book 1, while Guṅgu is an otherwise little-known clan name. The late vedic Sūtras, by the time of whose composition the system of gotras and pravaras (see below) had been established, largely agree. According to the Baudhāyanapravarasūtra and Āpastambaśrautasūtra 24.5–11, we have Bhṛgu, Aṅgiras, Atri, Viśvāmitra, Kaśyapa, Vasiṣṭha, and Agasti.

Major Clans of Ṛṣis of the Ṛgveda

The major poets’ clans (gotras) of the nucleus of the Ṛgveda are obvious from their mentioning in the text itself (as well as in traditional accounts). This concerns the nucleus books 2–7, with the addition of the second half of book 1 and the two parts of book 8.

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Book 1.51–191: various Aṅgiras poets (and a few famous ṛṣis such as Gotama Rahūgaṇa, Dīrghatamas, and Agastya).

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Book 2: the Gṛtsamāda (and Kuśika) clan.

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Book 3: the Viśvāmitra clan.

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Book 4: the Vāmadeva clan.

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Book 5: the Atri clan.

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Book 6: the Bhāradvāja clan.

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Book 7: the Vasiṣṭha clan.

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Book 8.1–66: the Kāṇva clan.

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Book 8.67–103: various Aṅgiras poets. 

Late Rgvedic Ṛṣis

The late addition to the Ṛgveda nucleus, book 1.1–50, contains several small collections: that by Madhuccchandas, a Viśvāmitra descendant (including his supposed son Jetṛ), and those by some Kāṇvas and Aṅgiras – Kaṇva Ghaura, Medhātithi Kāṇva, Praskaṇva Kāṇva, Śunaḥśepa Ājigārta, Hiraṇyastūpa Āṅgirasa. Not all of these attributions are based on text-internal data and thus are less secure; they are merely based on the Anukramaṇī (see below).
Book 9 (the song book) contains the soma hymns that have been composed, according to the Anukramaṇī, by various poets that are frequently found in books 1–8. The great appendix, book 10, however, is made up of hymns supposedly composed by a host of little-known ṛṣis, again next to descendants of some of the authors of books 1–8. The first major appendix (ṚV. 10.1–84) has Vimada, Vasukra, Kavaṣa Ailūṣa, Luśa, Vatsaprī, Bṛhaduktha Vāmadeva, Gaupāyana, Nābhānediṣṭha (otherwise, the son of Manu), Gaya Plāta, Vasukarṇa, Ayāsya, Sumitra, Gaurivīti, and Syūmaraśmi. Some older ṛṣis also are found, whose hymns were added only here, such as the Vasiṣṭha hymns (ṚV. 10.65, 66, 122) the Viśvāmitra hymns (ṚV. 10.104, 160, 167), and those of Kṛṣṇa Āṅgirasa (ṚV. 10.42–44), who belongs to Ṛgveda 8.85 (Upastuta Kāṇva). At the same time, the deities that are given as actual ṛṣi authors clearly are a late vedic invention of the Anukramaṇī. They include the legendary Trita Āptya and the gods Yama, Indra, Agni, Agni Saucika or Vaiśvānara, Bṛhaspati, Viśvakarman, and Manyu.

Female Ṛṣis

A special case involves the names of some 20 females who have traditionally been regarded as rgvedic ṛṣis, in the late vedic Sarvānukramaṇī. This text usually takes up names of some person or allusions to it that are found in the hymn in question and makes them the name of the author. Some such “female ṛṣis” clearly are goddesses and semidivine beings, such as Aditi, Indrāṇī, Urvaśī, Yamī, Yamī Vaivasvatī, Saramā Devaśunī, Sārparājñī, Sūryā Sāvitrī. Other “female ṛṣis” are ritual entities and abstractions: Juhū (“Spoon”), Brahmajāyā (“Wife of the [postvedic] God Brahmā”), Dakṣiṇā Prājāpatyā (“Sacrificial Fee,” daughter of the late rgvedic god Prajāpati), Vāc Āmbhṛṇī (“Speech”), and Śraddhā Kāmāyanī (“Belief, Trust”).
The rest constitutes a number of potentially real women authors that include Apāla Ātreyī (ṚV. 8.91), Godhā (ṚV. 10.134.6, 7), Ghoṣā Kākṣīvatī (ṚV. 10.39.40), Romaśā (ṚV. 1.126.7), Lopāmudrā (ṚV. 1.179.1–2), Viśvavārā Ātreyī (ṚV. 5.28), Śacī Paulomī (ṚV. 10.159), and Śaśvatī Āṅgirasī (ṚV. 8.1.34). Again, their names have been abstracted from speakers in dialogue and monologue hymns.
The name Viśvavārā Ātreyī has been spun out of mentioning the adjective viśvāvārā ("desired by all") in stanza 1, referring to a sacrificial spoon. Apālā Ātreyī’s hymn is supposed to have been composed by a young woman looking for a husband, but the introductory verse clearly states that the rest of the hymn is a “quotation” introduced by the poet. The same is true of Śaśvatī Āṅgirasī in that her words are a one-sentence quotation in a stanza that relates how the chieftain Āsaṅga regained his sexual potency. Ghoṣā Kākṣīvatā is supposed to be the daughter of the famous ṛṣi Kakṣīvant of Ṛgveda book 1, however, hymn 10.40.5 calls her the daughter of a chieftain (“king”); her “speech” is excerpted by the poet. Śacī Paulomī is said to be Indra’s wife. However, her name is derived from Indra’s frequent epithet Śacīpati (“Lord of Strength”), which can also be understood as “Husband of Śacī,” while Indra’s wife is regularly called Indrāṇī. In addition, this concerns a late rgvedic sorcery hymn in atharvavedic style. Clearly, such male and female “authors” are derived from the content of the hymns.
The rest of the hymns in book 10 (second appendix, 10.85–191) have even less probable names for their poets. Altogether there are some 600 words in the Ṛgveda that can be taken as personal names, many of them ṛṣis. The late vedic Anukramaṇī lists more than 500 ṛṣis.

Individual Clans

Among all of the securely attested rgvedic ṛṣis, the most famous are Viśvāmitra, Vasiṣtha, and the various Aṅgiras clans. While the Āṅgirasas are poets of the distant past or their Āṅgirasa descendants, Viśvāmitra and Vasiṣṭha are historical contemporaries of the major king of the Ṛgveda, Sudās. Vasiṣṭha was the personal priest (purohita) of Sudās, but he was ousted in favor of Vasiṣṭha. This initiated an enmity between the two clans that has endured. Medieval commentators, for example, would not quote rgvedic verses (mantras) from the opponent’s clan.
Vasiṣṭha (“The Best”) is remarkable for some Iranian echoes both in the religious nature of his name (Avest. Vahišta) as well in his poetry, especially that regarding the major deity Varuṇa who is called Medhira ("Wise"), which has been connected with the Zoroastrian supreme deity Ahura Mazdā (“Lord Wisdom” or “The Wise Lord”). Vasiṣṭha probably moved across the Indus from the eastern Iranian Plateau, the homeland of Zaraϑuštra. Though he was influential at the time of the composition of the bulk of the Ṛgveda – the Anukramaṇī attributes most of book 7 to this single poet – the influence of his clan waned in post-Sudās times. The Vasiṣṭha clan seems to have made the purohita also the fourth major priest in the Śrauta ritual, the brahmán, though that rule has relaxed in later vedic times. Vasiṣṭha’s sons are reported to have been killed by his opponent, Viśvāmitra, or by the Saudāsas, according to Brāhmaṇa legends.
Rather, the clan of Viśvāmitra (“Friend of All”) gained in importance. For example, a collection of 11 hymns traditionally attributed to Madhuccchandas (and his son), descendants of Viśvāmitra, opens the current collection of Ṛgveda hymns in book 1 and also the soma song book 9. Otherwise, the hymns produced by the Viśvāmitra clan (almost all found in book 3) are restricted to the common deities Agni and Indra and the group of so-called All-gods (viśvedevas); in addition, there is a hymn each to the Aśvin, Mitra, Ṛbhus, Uṣas, and one to various deities in a (late) collection of triad (tṛca) verses. The Viśvāmitras apparently were also important in shaping the complex Śrauta ritual, especially the emerging soma ritual, as is visible in the later parts of the Ṛgveda (1.1–50). In post-rgvedic texts, Viśvāmitra is linked to Jamadagni. He is also described as the only person who actually saw Indra (TaiSa. 3.5.2.1).
Among the other important ṛṣi clans of the Ṛgveda, the Kāṇva stand out in many ways. They are an enigmatic group of poets who claim decent from an ancient Kaṇva, son of Nṛṣad (“The One Who Sits among Men”). Kaṇva is mentioned along with other ancient ancestors. His descendants, the Kāṇvas, include Medhātithi (“Who Has Wisdom as His Guest”) and Priyamedha (“To Whom Wisdom is Dear”) and thus have proper Indo-Aryan names. However, the etymology of the name Kaṇva itself, just as the character of this group of poets, remains contested. Some of the Kaṇva hymns in book 8 show closeness to east Iranian names and realia, while other hymns are deeply rooted in Punjab and surroudings. It is possible that the Kaṇvas, as indigenous priests, became included in the Aryan (tribes of the “Indo-Aryans” or “vedic Indians”) fold and switched from marginal priests who echo some local Indus myths (such as a hero shooting a boar who guards the – otherwise not yet mentioned – rice dish in a mountain) to a major ṛṣi clan that aligned itself with the Viśvāmitras and other Āṅgirasas and hence figures prominently in the first addition to the Ṛgveda (book 8), as well as in some sections of the late additions found in book 1 (12–23, 36–43, 44–50).
An Indo-Aryan etymology of Kaṇva would indicate the function of its bearer as a sorcerer with the popular pronunciation of kṛṇva; this is supported by the name of another Kāṇva poet, Praskaṇva, where the word kṛ- occurs with the typical Indo-European s- prefix. At the same time, pra- has been explained an Austroasiatic prefix meaning “son of,” and the name Kaṇva exhibits the unconditioned retroflex -ṇ- that is typical for substrate words. A comprehensive and deeper study of all Kāṇva hymns is called for. In the Kāṇva hymns of book 8, the poets often speak of themselves, and their ancestor Kaṇva is not regarded as a near contemporary.
The Atri clan is one of the most frequently mentioned ṛṣi groups. The clan ancestor Atri is a protégé of the Aśvins, who delivered him from darkness; in the process he found the sun, which was obstructed by the demon Svarbhānu (ṚV. 5.40.5). The Atris, however, are already mentioned as a family of ṛṣis (ṚV. 5.39.5), and the whole of Ṛgveda book 5 is attributed to them. The Atrins, who are demons (with unclear etymology) are close in name to the Atris. In later vedic texts, their role diminished. A Brāhmaṇa text says that among the Atris, “even women” could compose mantras, and another passage accuses them of craving for gold. Nevertheless, the Atris or Ātreyas are conspicuous as authors of many hymns, as per the Anukramaṇī.

Anukramaṇī

While much of the preceding information can be gleaned from the hymns themselves and from some Brāhmaṇa texts, much of it relies on the Sarvānukramaṇī, a late vedic list of poets, deities, and meters. It has to be used with caution: while general information on the nucleus of the Ṛgveda (books 2–7) reflects the memory of a genuine tradition, most poets in book 10 are uncertain, and some are clearly invented. However, the ancestry of the individual ṛṣis of the Ṛgveda can be checked against the names of the ṛṣis and those of their respective clans that are actually mentioned in the text by the poets themselves. In this manner, some aspects of the Anukramaṇī can be substantiated, some not.
According to late vedic tradition, as recorded in the Anukramaṇī, many of the ṛṣis of the Ṛgveda belong to the Aṅgiras or have them as their teachers such as the poets of Ṛgveda 1.51–191 and 8.67–103, further the Bhāradvāja, and Śunahotra (book 2), who is adopted by the Bhṛgu. The Bhṛgu stand apart; to them belong the Śaunaka/Gṛtsamāda (book 2) and Jamadagni. In post-rgvedic times, the god Varuṇa is claimed as their ancestor. Viśvāmitra, whose ancestry is unclear beyond that of his father (Kuśika) and grandfather, has Jamadagni as a teacher. Similarly, Vasiṣṭḥa claims divine ancestry from Mitra and Varuṇa. The descent of the Atri remains unclear, and the Kāṇvas stand apart. Other ṛṣi names are nicknames, such as Tittiri (“Partridge”), Haridru (“Yellow Parrot”), Śunaka (“Little Dog”), Kuṣītaka (a bird), Vamra (“Ant”).
As indicated, especially many of the names in book 10 are suspicious or clearly invented out of embarrassment of not having any tradition about the authors of these additional hymns. They include, as mentioned, such “ṛṣis” as Vāc (“Speech”) as the author of Ṛgveda 10.125, Śraddhā (“Belief,” “Trust”; ṚV. 10.151), a female ṛṣi called Juhū (“Sacrificial Ladle”; ṚV. 10.109), or Akṣa Maujavant (“The Dice from the Mūjavant Mountain”; ṚV. 10.34). Prajāpati (a late rgvedic deity!; ṚV.  10.101) is as unlikely a ṛṣi as Yajña Prājāpatya (“Sacrifice, Son of Prajāpati”; ṚV. 10. 130) or Pratardana, supposedly a king of Kāśī (a late, nonvedic tribe in the Benares area; ṚV. 9.96).

Ṛṣis as Clan Heads

The more famous ṛṣis are even today thought to be the clan ancestors of important Brahmanical clans (gotra, originally “cow shed”). The nobility (Kṣatriya) originally took the gotra names of their house priest (purohita). Therefore, the clan name of the Buddha is Gautama (Pal. Gotama), which is derived from Gotama Rahūgaṇa (the poet of ṚV. 1.74–93), although the Buddha’s clan, the Śakya, is supposed to be Kṣatriya.
The lists of the various gotras and pravaras is given in the appendixes to the Śrautasūtras. While a gotra is a patrilinear clan with a known clan ancestor, such as Vasiṣṭha, a pravara is a list of three or five ṛṣis who are regarded as the remote ancestors of a given family. A pravara has to be declared when choosing (pra + vṛ-) a priest for a particular Śrauta ritual. The Śrautasūtras list them according to the major gotras, and thus the two sets overlap in that the pravaras became subdivisions of the gotras. Also, one may not marry if the gotra and pravara are the same (except that the Bhṛgus and Aṅgiras may do so if fewer than a majority of the names listed in two pravaras coincides: thus, a Bhṛgu may marry another Bhṛgu). The Baudhāyanaśrautasūtra gives the list of these clans as follows:

1.

Viśvāmitras: Kuśikā, Pārṇajaṅgha, Vārakhya, Audali, Māṇi, and so on, with a three-ṛṣi pravara: Vāiśvāmitra, Daivarāta, Audala. Other Viśvāmitras differ.

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Vasiṣṭḥas: Vaikali, Vārāṭaki, Sākhala, Gauriśravas, Āśvalāyana, and so on, with a one-ṛṣi pravara: Vāsiṣṭha. Other Vasiṣṭhas differ (and have a three-ṛṣi pravara).

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Atris: Atri, Bhūraya, Chāndi, Chāndogi, Pauṣṭika, and so on, with a three-ṛṣi pravara: Ātreya, Ārcanāsa, Śyāvāśva. Other Atris differ.

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Agastis: Agasti, Viśālādya, Sākalāyana, and so on, with a three-ṛṣi pravara: Āgastya, Dārḍhacyuta, Sāmbhavāha. Other Agastis differ.

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Kaśyapas: Kaśyapa, Chāgaleya, Maṭhara, and so on, with a three-ṛṣi pravara: Kāśyapa, Āvatsāra, Naidhruva. Other Kaśyapas differ.

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Āṅgirasas:

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Gautama gotra: Āyāsya, Śroṇīvedha, Kācākṣaya, Mūḍharatha, and so on. They have a three-ṛṣi pravara of Āṅgirasa, Āyāsya, Gautama. Other Gautamas differ.

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Bhāradvāja gotra.

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Kevala-Āṅgirasa and so on. 

    7.  Bhṛgus: Vātsya, Mārkaṇḍeya, Māṇḍukeya, Māṇḍavya, and so on. The Vatsa have a five-ṛṣi pravara: Bhārgava, Cyavana, Āpnavāna, Aurva, and Jāmadagnya. Another subgroup, the Yāska, have only a three-ṛṣi pravara of Bhārgava, Vaitahavya, and Sāvatasa. Their members include Yāska, Mauna, Mūka, and Vādhūla.

Epic and Puranic Ṛṣis

The Mahābhārata epic continues the same tradition but includes a new list of ṛṣis: Marīci, Atri, Aṅgiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, and Vasiṣṭḥa; these are also seen in Manusmṛti 1.3, however, with the addition of Pracetas, Bhṛgu, and Nārada. Among these, the ṛṣis Marīci, Pulastya, Pulaha, and Kratu are not yet mentioned in the vedic texts. Later on, with the advent of the yuga (world ages) theory and its manvantara periods , many more ṛṣis were added. For example, in the first manvantara, the ṛṣis were Marīci, Atri, Aṅgiras, Pulaha, Kratu, Pulastya, and Vasiṣṭha, while in the seventh, the current one of Manu Vaivasvata, we find the historically correct vedic names of Kaśyapa, Atri, Vasiṣṭha, Viśvāmitra, Gautama, Jamadagni, and Bharadvāja.
In postvedic times, both the older vedic and the new ṛṣis have developed an extensive mythology, from the Mahābhārata onwards. They constitute a mixture of vedic information and new inventions. In the process, many vedic persons and deities have been listed as their descendants, and many old and new myths have been rearranged under the heading of the seven ṛṣis, as follows.
Atri is regarded as one of the ten mind-produced sons of the creator god Brahmā and one of the prajāpatis (lords of creatures). They are born from various parts of Brahmā’s body. Atri’s wife Anasuyā is the daughter of Kardama Prajāpati and regarded as the personification of chastity. Atri produced ten sons, known as pracetasas (or prajāpatis). He figures in the line of descent of the Kuru as one of his sons was Soma, whose son was Purūravas, from whom human beings descended. Another son was Dattātreya, an incarnation of Viṣṇu. Vaguely echoing a vedic myth, Atri changed into the sun and moon in a battle between the two opposing groups of the gods and demons, the devas and asuras, when both asterisms were obscured. He got involved in the fight between Viśvāmitra and Vasiṣṭḥa and their respective descendants. Atri also figures in the Rāmāyaṇa , showing Rāma the way to Daṇḍaka Forest.
Aṅgiras, too, is a son of Brahmā, has several wives, such as Surūpa, Smṛti, the daughter of Dakṣa, and Śruti (both names of Sanskrit text genres) or Śraddhā (“Trust”). His sons include Utatya, Saṃvartana and (the vedic god) Bṛhaspati, Bṛhadbrahmā, Bṛhadmantra, and the god Kārttikeya. Indra also became his son through his Savya incarnation. Aṅgiras’ daughters are (the vedic goddesses) Sinīvalī, Kuhū, Rākā, and Anumati, as well as Bhānumatī, Rāgā, and others. He also became the first son of Agni when the latter had hidden from the deities (a rgvedic myth) because of Aṅgiras’ function as the first of the fire deities, as a fire that illuminated all the worlds. Aṅgiras appeased Agni by becoming his son. He also acquired the name Ātharvāṅgiras in a myth involving Indra: Indra had killed Vṛtrāsura (a vedic topic), had hidden himself in a lotus flower, and then returned to heaven, where he was greeted by Aṅgiras with Atharvaveda hymns. Indra therefore bestowed the name Ātharvāṅgiras on him. The Mahābhārata has him giving a discourse on the importance of various tīrthas and on many other subjects. Clearly, this ancient figure is invoked as an important authority. Some Kṣatriya clans claim descent from Aṅgiras.
Vasiṣṭha, too, is regarded as a son of Brahmā – differently from in the Ṛgveda, where he is the son of Mitra and Varuṇa. His wife Arundhatī is imagined as the small star Alcor, next to the star Mizar in Ursa Maior that is the representation of Vasiṣṭḥa. They ascended to the skies after having died in a sacrifice of Dakṣa. However, he was reborn from the sacrificial fire of Brahmā, and he gained the new wife Akṣamāla, a reborn Arundhatī; he again died by the curse of Nimi and was reborn yet another time from a vessel of Mitrāvaruṇa (echoing a rgvedic myth), having Agastya as his brother. His wife Arundhatī is the sister of Nārada. Vasiṣṭḥa had a number of sons, such as Citraketu, (the vedic god) Mitra, or Ulbaṇa.
He famously owns the all-wish-granting cow Kāmadhenu . The King Viśvāmitra (the same as the vedic ṛṣi) visited Vasiṣṭha’s hermitage and tried to take away the cow by force but did not succeed. He then acquired much power through asceticism ( tapas ). He attacked again, helped by weapons acquired from Śiva, but did not succeed against Vasiṣṭha’s a brahmadaṇḍa curse (a particular severe curse, such as forbidding verbal contact), and thus decided to become a Brahman sage, brahmarṣi. In another clash with Vasiṣṭha, adapted from a rgvedic myth, Viśvāmitra acted against him in helping the King Triśaṅkhu enter (an intermediate) heaven. In a third clash, again taken from the Ṛgveda and Aitareyabrāhmaṇa, he suggested that Hariścandra buy a son (Śunaḥśepa) to be offered to Varuṇa as a substitute for his real son, Lohita. Viśvāmitra opposed that sacrifice and made Hariścandra lose his kingdom. Because of that occurrence, both cursed each other at yet another encounter and became a stork and kingfisher, fighting each other until Brahmā released them. In a final confrontation, Viśvāmitra made the river and the goddess Sarasvatī float Vasiṣṭha down towards him. She actually floated him beyond Viśvāmitra’s hermitage, whereupon he cursed the river to carry blood. The gods intervened and created a tīrtha Vasiṣṭhāpavāha.
Clearly, Viśvāmitra has developed, by the time of the epic, from a rgvedic ṛṣi into a king who became a Brahman (brahmarṣi). The few late vedic hints to this status remain inconclusive.
A truly postvedic ṛṣi, Pulastya, another son of Brahmā, is the grandfather of (the god) Kubera, of Rāvaṇa and the rakṣasas. His wife is Havirbhū, and one of his sons is (the vedic ṛṣi) Agastya. He has several other wives, such as Sandhyā (“Twilight”) and Pratīcī, as well as the sons Dattoli or Dambholi and Viśravas, whose children are the rakṣasa Rāvaṇa and his sister Śūrpaṇakhā; both play important roles in the Rāmāyaṇa. Other children also include the kiṃpuruṣas and vānaras (monkeys) as well as the demonic or semidivine rākṣasas, gandharvas, and yakṣas. Pulaha, too, is one of Brahmā’s sons. He has several sons by his wife Kṣamā, including Kardama and Karmaśreṣṭha, but he also is the procreator of various animals such as wolves, lions, tigers, and lambs. Kratu, too, is one of the sons of Brahmā and one of the prajāpatis. His thousand sons include the Vālakhilyas (the authors of ṚV. 8.49-59). The late ṛṣi Marīci, again a son of Brahmā, has enjoyed a long afterlife, even in Buddhism. He has several wives, and two sons, Kaśyapa and Pūrṇiman, but Kaśyapa is also seen as the ancestor of all living beings. Sons of his wife Ūrṇā were reincarnated, due to a curse, as the brothers of the god Kṛṣṇa. Another curse involved his wife Dharmavratā, who was turned into a stone and became the origin of the Gayā tīrtha. There is another Marīci, an apsaras . It may be that she (partially) gave rise to the female Marīci, who is prominent even in Japan, where she has become a powerful deity of the sun and moon. The admixture of vedic names as well as newly invented ones is clearly visible in all these new myths.
Many ṛṣi names still appear in modern “family” names of Brahmans, such as Gautama, Bharadvāja, Ātreya, Kāśyapa, Bhārgava, Kauśika, or that of sub-gotra names such as Kauṇḍeya, Vātsyāyana, Vādhūla, and so on.