THE SAINTS OF OUR LINEAGE (PARAMPARA) ॐ

SRI VYASADEVA

Vyasa ("Divider” in Sanskrit), a legendary ancient Indian sage, grandfather of the Pandavas, revered as "the Divider" and compiler of the Vedas and Puranas, and the author of the Mahabharata.

Other names: Vedavyasa, Vyasadeva, Badarayana, Krishna Dvaipayana.

He was born on an island on the Yamuna River.

According to legends, Vedavyasa was the illegitimate son of the sage Parashara and Satyavati. The baby was carried to an island on the river Jamne near the town of Kalpi.

He was named Kanina ("bastard") because of his origin, Krishna ("black") because of his skin color, and Dvaipayana ("island-born") because of his birth and upbringing place.

Vyasa is a sage who is considered either the author, or editor and compiler, of many extensive ancient manuscripts (Vedas, Puranas, Vedanta texts, and the famous epic "Mahabharata").

Vyasa’s name is also given to other ancient authors and compilers. However, it is specifically given to Vedavyasa, the compiler of the Vedas, who is also called Shashvata ("Immortal", "Eternal").

His mother was young Kali (Satyavati), and his father – the sage Parashara, a son of Shakti.

From his childhood, Vyasa's skin was dark. Because of that, and also due to the fact that Satyavati gave birth to him on an island, his other name was Krishna Dvaipayana, i.e., "Black, born on an island.”

As early as at birth, the celebrated Vyasa made an effort of will and matured his body to manhood. Then he thoroughly studied all the Vedas, their supplements, and historical narrations.

No one could surpass him in asceticism, study of the Vedas, observance of vratas, strictness of fasting, fertility, and the power of anger.

The greatest of all Veda experts, he divided one Veda into four. He was a true, discerning sage, pure in spirit and sincere. He was a poet and a visionary of the past, present and future.

Vyasa became a great hermit. His mother Satyavati married King Shantanu and gave him two sons.

The elder son, Chitrangada, was killed in a battle. The younger, Vichitravirya, died childless.

Famed for his extraordinary piety, Vyasa, to prolong the Shantanu dynasty, gave birth to Panda, Dhritarashtra, and Vidura.

Vyasa, who led an ascetic life in a forest, according to the laws of the land and at his mother's insistence, took two childless widows of his younger half-brother, Ambika and Ambalika.

They brought him two sons, Dhritarashtra and Panda, the progenitors of the two rival clans described in the Mahabharata – the Kauravas and the Pandavas.

Thus Vyasa became the actual father of the kings Pandu and Dhritarashtra and the grandfather of the main heroes of Mahabharata, the Pandavas and the Kauravas.

According to the Puranic tradition, there was not only one Vyasa but at least twenty, all being incarnations of Vishnu or Brahma, who were tasked to proclaim the Vedas on Earth at different periods of time.

According to the Bhagavata Purana (Song 1, Ch. 3, verse 21), Vyasa is the seventeenth incarnation of God.

Vyasa is generally thought to be the author of the Vedanta Sutras, which form the so-called Triple Canon ("Prasthana Traya") together with the Bhagavad-gita and the main Upanishads. The Triple Canon is essential to all traditions and schools of Hinduism who recognize the authority of the Vedas.

A crater on Mercury is named after Vyasa.

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