Viraja, Disciple of Jātūkarṇya
Viraja · vi-raja, “the one free of rajas”
Virajā has other meanings too: see all meanings of Virajā.
Viraja is a disciple of Jātūkarṇya Maharshi in the line of the Ṛgveda. From his guru he received a śākhā of the Ṛgveda saṃhitā together with the Nirukta. He is not Viraja, the saptarshi of the Cākshusha manvantara.
In the line of the Ṛgveda
Sūta, telling Śaunaka and the ṛshis how the Vedas were divided and handed down, gives the line of the Ṛgveda. Jātūkarṇya Maharshi, a disciple of Śākalya, divided his saṃhitā-śākhā into three and taught it, together with the Nirukta, the Vedāṅga that defines words, to Balāka, Paija, Vaitāla and Viraja. These are among the śākhās of the Ṛgveda called the Bahvṛcas, and the man who hears of this division of the Veda-saṃhitās is fully freed of all his pāpas.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 12, Chapter 6
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 12, Chapter 6