Apāntaratama

Apāntaratama, simply known as Apantaratama, Sanskrit: अपान्तरतम, Telugu: అపాంతరతముడు, Hindi: अपांतरतम.

Apāntaratama is a being born of Sarasvatī at the command of Nārāyaṇa, at the start of the seventh kalpa (a great age of the world). Nārāyaṇa gave him the work of sorting and arranging the Vedas. He did this work in the Svāyambhuva Manvantara. Nārāyaṇa then said that Apāntaratama would come back to the world as Kṛshṇadvaipāyana Vyāsa, born in the line of Vasishṭha.

Vyāsa himself tells this account to his disciples. The Mahābhārata gives it in the Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapter 349.

Birth at the start of the seventh kalpa

At the start of the seventh kalpa, Nārāyaṇa called Sarasvatī. She is the devī of speech, sacred learning and knowledge. Apāntaratama was born from this calling, when Nārāyaṇa called upon Sarasvatī at the dawn of the kalpa.

He was not born into a family through the karma (action and its result) of an earlier life. He was born by a direct act of Nārāyaṇa meeting Sarasvatī.

The task: dividing the Vedas

Nārāyaṇa gave Apāntaratama a task: to sort, arrange and divide the Vedas. The Veda received from Nārāyaṇa, or from Brahman, was one whole. To keep it, hand it down and study it, it had to be divided into parts. Teachers could then pass these parts on to students.

Apāntaratama did this work in the Svāyambhuva Manvantara. This is the first manvantara of the cycle, and Svāyambhuva Manu rules over it. He arranged the Veda into its main divisions and into śākhās (branches or recensions).

Nārāyaṇa’s word: he will return as Vyāsa

After Apāntaratama finished his task in the Svāyambhuva Manvantara, Nārāyaṇa told him he would return. In the Vaivasvata Manvantara, the present one, he would be born as Kṛshṇadvaipāyana Vyāsa. The line of his birth is:

Nārāyaṇa → Brahmā → Vasishṭha → Śakti → Parāśara → Vyāsa

Brahmā is the creator, who himself receives knowledge from Nārāyaṇa. Vasishṭha is one of the seven first ṛshis of the present cycle. Śakti is the son of Vasishṭha. Parāśara is the son of Śakti, and the author of a dharmaśāstra (text of law). Kṛshṇadvaipāyana Vyāsa is the son of Parāśara.

The reason for his return is stated plainly. As Vyāsa he would do the work of dividing the Veda once more, this time for the Vaivasvata Manvantara. He would divide it into the four Vedas and their śākhās, as they stand in the world today.

Vyāsa tells his own origin

Vyāsa himself tells this account. It is the Dvaipāyanotpatti, the account of the birth of Vyāsa. He tells it to his disciples Sumantu, Jaimini, Paila and Vaiśampāyana, and to his own son Śuka. In it he says that he is Apāntaratama come back. Nārāyaṇa has once again charged him to divide the Vedas for the present manvantara.

In the Nārāyaṇīya, the Vedas are given by Nārāyaṇa, arranged by Apāntaratama as Vyāsa, and handed down through Vyāsa’s four disciples and through Śuka.

The line of teachers in the Bhagavad Gītā

The Bhagavad Gītā also gives a chain of teachers. It begins with Nārāyaṇa teaching Vivasvān (Sūrya), who teaches Manu, who teaches Ikshvāku:

imaṃ vivasvate yogaṃ proktavān aham avyayam
vivasvān manave prāha manur ikshvākave ‘bravīt

The meaning is: “I taught this imperishable yoga to Vivasvān. Vivasvān told it to Manu. Manu told it to Ikshvāku.”

Chapter 348 of the Mokshadharma Parva gives the chains by which the Sāttvata dharma was passed on within the Nārāyaṇīya. These chains include this solar line, together with the line of Apāntaratama.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapter 349
• Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapter 348
• Bhagavad Gītā