Āṅgirasas

Āṅgirasa, “the sons of Aṅgiras”

Kapilā has other meanings too: see all meanings of Kapilā. Smṛti has other meanings too: see all meanings of Smṛti. Dakshiṇā has other meanings too: see all meanings of Dakshiṇā. Nābhāga has other meanings too: see all meanings of Nābhāga.

The Āṅgirasas are the ten divine sons of the ṛshi Aṅgiras and Ātreyī, daughter of Atri, born in the line of Agni. Strong and valiant, versed in the Vedas, the Vedāṅgas and all the śāstras, they always calmed their fiery father, performed yajñas with plentiful dakshiṇā on the Parushṇī, and served as the ṛtvijas of the Ādityas. Because they began tapas without their mother’s leave, her śāpa kept every siddhi from them, until Agastya sent them to the Gautamī. There, five on the northern bank and five on the southern, they worshipped and meditated, and the devas confirmed the office ordained for them at the beginning of the yuga: whenever dharma declines and the Vedas are in danger, they are born as Vyāsas to revive them. So they are known as the Dharma-Vyāsas and Veda-Vyāsas, and the Vyāsa Tīrtha bears their name. Brahmā tells their account to Nārada in the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa.

Their birth and the Parushṇī

Brahmā tells Nārada that the ṛshi Aṅgiras was born of Agni together with aṅgāras (embers), and so he is called Aṅgiras. Atri gave him his daughter Ātreyī as wife. Because of Agni’s nature in him, Aṅgiras always spoke harshly to Ātreyī, yet she went on serving him. Of her were born to Aṅgiras sons of great strength and valour, the Āṅgirasas, and the sons always calmed their father. When Ātreyī, at Agni’s word, became water and flowed over her husband, who had taken the form of fire, the two mingled with the Gaṅgā and both became calm; she became the river Parushṇī. On that river the sons of Aṅgiras performed yajñas with plentiful dakshiṇā.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 74

The yajña for the Ādityas

On the southern bank of the Gautamī the Āṅgirasas performed a yajña on behalf of the Ādityas, and the Ādityas gave them the Earth as dakshiṇā. The Āṅgirasas went away to perform tapas, and the Earth took the form of a lioness (saiṃhikī) and began to devour the people. The frightened people told the Āṅgirasas, who knew by their wisdom that the lioness was the Earth. They went to the Ādityas and asked them to take back the Earth they had given, but the Ādityas refused, for the wise never take back what was given as dakshiṇā, and there is no greater pāpa than taking back land one has given. Instead the Ādityas took back the Earth as a thing bought, giving a Kapilā cow with auspicious marks in exchange. From the water of that gift flowed the river Kapilā. The tīrtha is remembered by several names, and one of them is Āṅgirasa, after the Āṅgirasas.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 85

Their mother’s śāpa

Brahmā tells Nārada that his ten mind-born sons, creators of the worlds, went forth to find the end of the earth and never came back; others were created and went in search of them, and they too were gone for ever. Then the divine Āṅgirasas were born, knowing the principles of the Vedas and Vedāṅgas and expert in all the śāstras. Aṅgiras, their father and guru, permitted them to perform tapas, and they bowed to him; but they began their tapas without asking their mother. The mother stands above all gurus and elders, and in anger she pronounced a śāpa on her own sons: “Those sons who have slighted me and begun tapas will never attain siddhi in any respect.”

They went to many lands seeking success in tapas, but obstacles followed them everywhere: in some places rākshasas hindered them, in some men, in some young maidens, and in others defects of the body.

Agastya’s teaching

At last they came to Agastya, born of a pot, the foremost of tapasvins and guru of the worlds, the calm lord of the southern quarter. Bowing, they asked him: “What is the fault for which our tapas bears no fruit? What is the right method of tapas? Tell us the means.” They praised him as the eldest in tapas, the best of speakers, the wisest of the wise, the calmest of the self-controlled, ever merciful, never angry, free of hatred; for the arrogant, the pitiless, those who abandon service to elders, those who speak untruth and the cruel do not know reality.

Agastya meditated for a moment and answered slowly: “You are all of tranquil mind. You were made creators by Brahmā, but your tapas was not enough. Those whom Brahmā created first, and those who went away, are ever happier. Those who went later in search of them became the Āṅgirasas, and you are they. You went at the proper time, and slowly; without doubt you will become greater than Prajāpati. Go to the Gaṅgā, sanctifier of the three worlds, and perform tapas: apart from the Gaṅgā, beloved of Śiva, there is no refuge in this world. There, in the āśrama, worship the giver of knowledge, for without a true guru no one attains siddhi.”

They asked whether the giver of knowledge was Brahmā, Vishṇu, Maheśa, Sūrya, Candra, Agni or Varuṇa. Agastya taught them: “That which is water is Agni; that which is Agni is Sūrya; he who is Sūrya is Vishṇu, and he who is Vishṇu is Sūrya; he who is Brahmā is Rudra, and he who is Rudra is everything. He alone has perfect knowledge; he is glorified as the giver of knowledge.” Of the five kinds of guru, the teacher, the one who moves us to act, the one who explains, the priest and the father, the giver of knowledge is the highest. “That alone is knowledge by which difference is dispelled. The one, secondless Śambhu is called by the brāhmaṇas Indra, Mitra and Agni, to help the deluded.”

Their tapas and their birth as Vyāsas

Hearing Agastya, five of the Āṅgirasas went to the northern bank of the Gautamī and five to the southern bank, singing stotras as they went. They worshipped the devas Agastya had named, sat in their āsanas and meditated on reality. The devas were pleased with them. Their office as creators had been ordained by the creator of the universe at the beginning of the yuga: to dispel evil, to preserve the Vedas, to help the worlds, and for the attainment of dharma, kāma and artha. They accepted it in order to interpret rightly the meaning of the Purāṇas, Smṛtis, Vedas and Dharmaśāstras. Step by step they gain the status of Prajāpati whenever evil spreads in the world and the Vedas are slighted. Whenever the Vedas are in danger and dharma declines, they are born as Vyāsas, the Veda-Vyāsas, to revive them, and the banks of the Gautamī are the place of their tapas.

Brahmā says that there Śiva, Vishṇu, he himself, Āditya, Agni and the Waters are always present, and Śiva, the ātmā of all, dwells there especially, out of compassion for all beings. The Āṅgirasas are to be known as the Dharma-Vyāsas and the Veda-Vyāsas, and their tīrtha is known in the three worlds as the Vyāsa Tīrtha.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 88

At the Gautamī’s meeting with the sea

When the Gautamī joined the eastern sea, the descendants of Aṅgiras and of Bhṛgu, proficient in the smṛtis and learned in the Vedas and Purāṇas, went to the divine river with Agastya, Mārkaṇḍa, Gālava, Pippala, Vāmadeva and others devoted to yoga. Reciting mantras and Vedic passages, they praised the river, and Bhagavān Śiva and Bhagavān Vishṇu revealed themselves to the ṛshis.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 104

Sources

• Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapters 74, 85, 88, 104