Sumantu

Sumantu

Sumantu is a ṛshi, a śishya of Vyāsa, through whom the Atharvaveda was handed down. The Agni Purāṇa tells that at the end of the Dvāpara yuga Śrī Mahāvishṇu descends as Vedavyāsa and divides the one Veda into four, and gives each Veda to a śishya. Vyāsa’s śishya Sumantu made a śākhā (branch) of the Atharvaveda and taught it to thousands of śishyas, beginning with Paippalāda. The Purāṇa also names him, with Sukarmā, among those who composed a saṃhitā in the line of the Sāmaveda, and counts him first among the ṛshis who started the śākhās of the Atharvaveda. The Bhāgavata Purāṇa tells that Vyāsa taught him the saṃhitā called Atharvāṅgirasa, that he passed it to his disciple Kabandha, from whom the Atharva śākhās spread, and that he was one of the ṛtvijas of Yudhishṭhira‘s Rājasūya.

In the division of the Veda

Agni Deva, after telling the fourteen manvantaras, says that at the end of the Dvāpara yuga Śrī Mahāvishṇu descends in the form of Vedavyāsa and divides the Veda. At first the Veda was one, with four caraṇas (quarters) and a lakh of ṛks. Vyāsa set the four ṛtvijas to their offices: the Adhvaryu with the Yajurveda, the Hotā with the Ṛgveda, the Udgātā with the Sāma mantras, and the Brahmā with the Atharvaveda.

Then he gave the Vedas to his śishyas. Paila was master of the Ṛgveda. The wise Vaiśampāyana made twenty-seven śākhās of the tree of the Yajurveda. Jaimini made the branches of the tree of the Sāmaveda, and Sumantu and Sukarmā each composed a saṃhitā; Sukarmā received a thousand saṃhitās from his guru. Vyāsa’s śishya Sumantu made one śākhā of the Atharvaveda and taught it to thousands of śishyas, beginning with Paippalāda. And by the grace of Vyāsa, the Sūta spread the Purāṇa-saṃhitā.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 150

Among the ṛshis of the Atharvaveda

Pushkara, telling the śākhās of the four Vedas, says that the ṛshis who started the śākhās of the Atharvaveda are Sumantu, Jājali, Ślokāyanī, Śaunaka, Pippalāda, Muñjakeśa and others. The Atharvaveda has sixteen thousand mantras and a hundred Upanishads. It was Śrī Mahāvishṇu, descending in the form of Vyāsa, who made the division of the Veda śākhās, and the divisions of the Veda, the itihāsas and the Purāṇas are all forms of Bhagavān Vishṇu.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 271

Per Bhāgavata Purāṇa

The Atharvaveda from Vyāsa

Sūta tells Śaunaka and the ṛshis that Vedavyāsa Maharshi saw how the Vedic karma performed by the four ṛtviks, the hotṛ, the adhvaryu, the udgātṛ and the brahmā, purifies the hearts of people. So that such yajñas would go on without a break, he divided the one Veda into four: the Ṛgveda, the Yajurveda, the Sāmaveda and the Atharvaveda, and the itihāsas and purāṇas are called the fifth Veda. Paila mastered the Ṛgveda, the learned Jaimini the singing of the Sāma, Vaiśampāyana alone the Yajurveda mantras, and the muni Sumantu the śākhās of the Atharvaveda; Sūta’s own father Romaharshaṇa received the itihāsas and purāṇas. These maharshis divided their Vedas again into many śākhās, and so, through disciples and their disciples, the Vedas came to have many branches.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapter 4

Later Sūta tells Śaunaka again how, in this Vaivasvata manvantara, Brahmā, Bhagavān Śiva, Indra and the guardians of the worlds asked Śrī Hari to protect dharma, and Śrī Hari descended through Parāśara Maharshi in Satyavatī and divided the Veda into four. Vyāsa, all-knowing, called four disciples and taught one saṃhitā to each: the Bahvṛca, the Ṛgveda, to Paila; the Yajurveda to Vaiśampāyana; the Sāmaveda saṃhitā called Chandoga to Jaimini; and the saṃhitā famous as Atharvāṅgirasa to Sumantu.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 12, Chapter 6

The line of the Atharvaveda

Sumantu, who had received the Atharvaveda from Vyāsa, taught the saṃhitā he had learned to his own disciple Kabandha. Kabandha divided that saṃhitā into two parts and taught them to Pathya and Vedadarśa.

  • The disciples of Vedadarśa were Śauklāyani, Brahmabali, Modosha and Pippalāyani.
  • The disciples of Pathya, knowers of the Atharva, were Kumuda, Śunaka and Jājali.
  • Babhru and Saindhavāyana were disciples of Śunaka of the Aṅgiras gotra, and they studied two saṃhitās.

Besides these, other learned men studied the Atharvaveda: Sāvarṇa, Nakshatrakalpa, Śānti, Kaśyapa, Āṅgirasa and others. They composed the Nakshatrakalpa, the Śāntikalpa and other works, and became known by those names.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 12, Chapter 7

At Yudhishṭhira’s Rājasūya

Śrī Śuka Maharshi tells Parīkshit that when the time came for the Rājasūya, Dharmarāja, with the leave of Śrī Kṛshṇa, chose as ṛtvijas worthy brāhmaṇas who knew the Vedas. Sumantu is third among the thirty, after Vedavyāsa and Bharadvāja: Vedavyāsa, Bharadvāja, Sumantu, Gautama, Asita, Vasishṭha, Cyavana, Kaṇva, Maitreya, Kavasha, Trita, Viśvāmitra, Vāmadeva, Sumati, Jaimini, Kratu, Paila, Parāśara, Garga, Vaiśampāyana, Atharvan, Kaśyapa, Dhaumya, Paraśurāma, Śukrācārya, Āsuri, Vītihotra, Madhucchandas, Vīrasena and Akṛtavraṇa. The ṛtvijas ploughed the yajña-ground with golden ploughs, gave Dharmarāja the dīkshā, and, radiant as devas, had him perform the Rājasūya according to rule, as the devas had Varuṇa perform his. At its close Dharmarāja gave abundant dakshiṇās to the ṛtvijas and the members of the assembly.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 74

Sources

  • Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 150, 271
  • Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapter 4; Skandha 10, Chapter 74; Skandha 12, Chapters 6–7