विश्वामित्रपराशरौर्वभृगवॊऽगस्त्यः पुलस्त्यः क्रतुः

श्रीमानत्रिमरीच्युचथ्यपुलहाः शक्तिर्वसिष्ठॊऽंगिराः

मान्डव्यॊ जमदग्निगौतमभरद्वाजादयस्तापसाः

श्रीमद् विष्णुपदांबुजैकशरणाः कुर्वन्तु नॊ मन्गलम् ॥ ३ ॥

ವಿಶ್ವಾಮಿತ್ರಪರಾಶರೌರ್ವಭೃಗವೋಽಗಸ್ತ್ಯಃ ಪುಲಸ್ತ್ಯಃ ಕ್ರತುಃ

ಶ್ರೀಮಾನತ್ರಿಮರೀಚ್ಯುಚಥ್ಯಪುಲಹಾಃ ಶಕ್ತಿರ್ವಸಿಷ್ಠೋಽಂಗಿರಾಃ

ಮಾನ್ಡವ್ಯೋ ಜಮದಗ್ನಿಗೌತಮಭರದ್ವಾಜಾದಯಸ್ತಾಪಸಾಃ

ಶ್ರೀಮದ್ ವಿಷ್ಣುಪದಾಂಬುಜೈಕಶರಣಾಃ ಕುರ್ವನ್ತು ನೋ ಮನ್ಗಲಮ್ || ೩ ||

vishvaamitraparaasharourvabhRugavO&gastyaH pulastyaH kratuH

shrImaanatrimarIchyuchathyapulahaaH shaktirvasiShThO&MgiraaH

maanDavyO jamadagnigoutamabharadwaajaadayastaapasaaH

shrImad viShNupadaaMbujaikasharaNaaH kurvantu nO mangalam || 3 ||

Acharya Madhva says that great Rishis who meditate on Lord Vishnu after having subdued the six enemies (lust, anger, delusion, greed, arrogance and jealousy) have the ability to free those who approach them from sorrow (“ShaDvarga nigraha nirasta samasta dOShA dyaayanti viShNum RuShayO yadapaanga lEsham | AshrItya yaanapi samEtya na yaati duHkhaM”).

Sri Raja Rajeshwara Yati supplements Acharya Madhva’s words by listing 18 of the most prominent Raja Rishis and Brahma Rishis who have graced this land and asks us to obtain their grace and blessings.

Every Manvantara has an associated Manu and 7 sages (sapta rishis). The sapta-rishis of the first manvantara (Swaayambhuva) are Mareechi, Atri, Angiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu and Vasishta. The sapta-rishis of the current Vaivaswata Manvantara are – Kashyapa, Atri, Vasishtha, Vishvaamitra, Goutama, Jamadagni and Bhaaradwaaja. Out of these, Atri and Vasishta are common to both manvantaras. So, there are 12 rishis covering both manvantaras. Out of these, the Mangalaashtaka omits Kashyapa and covers the others. It adds 7 names not covered by the 12; these are Bhrugu, Paraashara, Ourva, Agastya, Uchatya, Shakti, Maandavya.

The Manu of the first manvantara was Swaayambhoo. His wife was Shataroopa devi and they had two sons (Priyavrata and Uttaanapaada), and three daughters (Aakooti, Devahooti and Prasooti). Manu gave his first daughter Āakooti in marriage to sage Ruchi, the second daughter Devahooti to sage Kardama, and the youngest, Prasooti, to the celestial Daksha. Kardama and Devahooti had 9 daughters and one son. The son was Lord Kapila, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu.

The sapta-rishis of Swayambhoo Manvantara along with Bhrugu and Atharva are called the Nava-prajaapatis; these 9 are responsible for the start of Creation.

Kardama muni gave his 9 daughters in marriage to the 9 prajapatis as listed below:

Prajapati	Wife
Mareechi	Kala
Atri	Anasooya
Angiras	Shraddha
Pulastya	Havirbhuk
Pulaha	Gati
Kratu	Kriya
Bhrugu	Khyaati
Vasishta	Arundhati
Atharva	Shaanti

Brief description about them:

Mareechi:  He was the son of Brahma. He was the father of Kashyapa, who is main originator of mankind and all living beings. Mareechi is considered to be the moola-purusha (founder) of the Sun dynasty. His daughter was Poornima, the abhimaani devata for the full moon day.

Atri – the father of the Trimurtis:  He was the moola-purusha (founder) of the Moon dynasty. He was the husband of Anasooya. He prevailed over lust, anger and greed and earned the name ‘atri’ (‘a’ means devoid of, ‘tri’ – the three bad qualities = lust, anger and greed). His three sons were dattaatrEya (an incarnation of Vishnu), doorvaasa (incarnation of Shiva) and Chandra (moon). Since Brahma does not incarnate on earth, he had a special presence (AvEsha) in Chandra.

Angiras : He was another son of Brahma. He and Shraddha had 4 daughters in Swayambhoo manvantara – Sineevaali, Kuhoo, Raakaa and Anumati.

Sineevaali is the abhimaani of Amaavaasya (New moon day) which has a taint of Chaturdashi (ie., the day started as Krishna Chaturdashi but turned into Amavasya later in the day).

Kuhoo is the abhimaani of the pure Amaavaasya which is untainted with Chaturdashi.

Similarly, Anumati is the abhimaani of the Poornima (Full moon) that is tainted with Prathama (i.e. day started off as Poornima but turned into Prathama late in the night).

Raakaa is the abhimaani of the pure Full moon day that is untainted with Prathama.

In SvaarOchisha Manvantara Angirasa and Shraddha had 2 sons –

Bruhaspati, the preceptor of the Gods, and Uchatya.

 Uchatya was the purohit of Indra for some time.

Pulastya – the grandfather of Ravana:  He was another son of Brahma.

His son in the first manvantara was Agastya.

In another manvantara he had another son named Vishravas.

Vishravas had two wives – iLibiLE and Kaikasi (a raakshasi).

Kubera was born to Vishravas and iLibiLE. That is why he is called Vaishravana.

Vishravas had four children with Kaikasi – Raavana, Kumbhakarana, Vibheeshana and Shoorpanakha. Since Raavana is the grand son of Pulastya he is also called Poulastya. Raavana was born in a lineage of brahmin saints but had no brahmanic or saintly qualities. He got his demonic nature from his mother.

Pulaha: He was another son of brahma.

He had 3 sons – KaamashrEshTha, Vareeyan and SahishNu. They all became great sages but not much is known about them as they find very little mention in puraaNas.

Kratu: – He is the force behind yagnas, another son of Brahma, is the presiding deity for yagnas.

 All yagnas and yaagas are performed under his benign direction and blessings. His wife was Kriya, the abhimaani of all actions. They had 60,000 sons – the famous Vaalakhilyas.

Valakhilyas are thumb sized ascetics accompanying the sun in its every day travel in the sky. They shine like brilliant lights because of their severe penance. They are said to hang upside down in the trees while doing penance. They are mantra-drashtaaras (seers of vedic hymn). They are the rishis of the 11 Vaalakhilya hymns found in the appendix of the eighth Mandala of the Rig Veda.

Vasishta : He is the rAja guru of Sun dynasty and great grandfather of Vedavyasa.

Vasishta was the maanasa putra of Brahma (a son conceived through the intellect) in Svaayambhuva manvantara. He married Arundhati aka Oorja. He had 7 sons, led by Chitraketu.

In the Vaivaswata manvantara he was reborn as Varuna’s son. In this birth he had one hundred sons. Out of these, ninety-nine were killed by Raakshasaas. Vasishta did not lose his temper and focused his energy on raising his one remaining son – Shakti. When even Shakti was killed by Raakshasaas, Vasishta became dejected and decided to give up everything. He started walking towards the forest, followed by Shakti’s wife adRushyanti. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Vasishta heard Vedic hymns being uttered. After examining his surroundings he realized that the sounds were coming from his daughter-in-law’s womb. It then dawned on him that Shakti’s child was a very great soul. He immediately abandoned his plans to commit suicide and decided to take care of his daughter-in-law and the child growing in her womb. His grandson was the great Paraashara muni. Vasishtha returned to his regular lifestyle and in course of time became the Raja-guru of the Sun dynasty advising many great kings like Dasharatha, Raama etc.

Paraashara, the father of Veda vyAsa: The daughter of Pitru devatas was born as the daughter of Uparichari Vasu. Due to a combination of circumstances the baby was actually conceived in a fish, that was captured by the head of fishermen. He brought the child up as his own daughter. She grew up into a fine, beautiful woman, who plied the boats and helped people cross the river. She is known by many names – Vaasavi (daughter of Vasu), Matsya gandhi (born to a fish), kaaLi (dark skinned), Vedavati (the mother of Vedavyaasa).

Paraashara muni came there and was enamored by Matsya gandhi. He realized that it was divine will that he beget a son out of her. When she demurred, he gave her a boon saying that her virginity would be intact even after child birth. The baby born to them was Veda vyAsa, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Since he was dark skinned and born in an island (dveepa), he also became known as Krishna Dwaipaayana (the dark one born on an island).

When the intensity of gyAna on Earth started becoming weak, it was VedavyAsa who re-established it . He classified the Vedas, composed Brahmasootras, Mahaabhaarata and the 18 puraaNas to give knowledge a strong foundation. This is Paraashara’s gift to humanity.

Bhrugu- the propagator of hari sarvOttamatva:  He was another maanasa putra of Brahma in Svaayambhuva manvantara. He had 2 sons – Dhaata and Vidhaata.

 Dhaata’s son was Mrukandu and his son was Maarkandeya, the one who warded off Death. Vidhaata’s son was Praana; Prana’s son was Vedashiras. Shukracharya was the son of Vedashiras.

Bhrugu was reborn in Vaivaswata manvantara as the son of Varuna. In this birth also, Shukraacharya was his son. In another birth, Bhrugu had another son called Chyavana. His son was Ourva.

Bhrugu was once sent by the sages to evaluate the merits of Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu to determine who was the greatest amongst them and most eligible to receive their prayers and worship. Bhrugu first went to Brahmaloka to visit his father (Brahma). Brahma was engrossed with Saraswati and did not acknowledge Bhrugu’s arrival. Bhrugu became angry and cursed Brahma to be devoid of worship on Earth. He then went to Kailasa to visit Shiva. There also he met with the same treatment; Shiva was in amorous dalliance with Parvati and totally oblivious to his surroundings. Bhrugu became angry at being ignored and cursed Shiva to be worshipped in his Linga form. When Bhrugu saw Shiva getting angry he left Kailasa and went to Vaikunta to visit Vishnu. Here again, he found the same treatment; Vishnu was resting on Adi-sesha with Lakshmi pressing his feet. He did not acknowledge Bhrugu’s arrival; Bhrugu grew angry at this slight and kicked Vishnu on his chest. Vishnu pretended to wake up; he profusely apologized to Bhrugu for not acknowledging his arrival. Bhrugu was surprised to see Vishnu devoid of anger; he was also very pleased to see the reverence with which he was treated by Vishnu. He came back to Earth and declared Vishnu to be the supreme amongst all gods and totally devoid of defects like anger.

Bhrugu’s descendents are called Bhaargavas; the most famous amongst these is Parasuraama, the sixth incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Lakshmi too incarnated as Bhrugu’s daughter and was called Bhaargavi.

Ourva, the protector of Sagara maharAja: Once there was a feud between the descendents of Kaartiveerya Arjuna and Bhrugu. The king’s warriors started killing womenfolk in Bhrugu’s lineage. The women fled to the distant reaches of Himalayas to protect themselves. One woman hid her womb in her thigh. The soldiers came to know of this and approached her to abort the baby. At that instant, the baby burst forth from his mother’s thigh, with his eye blazing in anger. His anger totally blinded the soldiers. When they repented their actions and sought his forgiveness, they regained their eyesight. The child was named as Ourva – the one born from Uru (thigh in Sanskrit).

The danger posed by the Kshatriyas was averted, but Ourva’s anger was still blazing. As this was causing great harm to humanity, the Pitrus appeared before him and asked him to get rid of his anger. Ourva converted his anger into a female horse and submerged it in the ocean. That is why fires coming from the ocean are called Ourvaanala (fire from ourva) or badabaanala (badaba means female horse in Sanskrit).

Baahuka, the emperor of bharata Varsha, was addicted to gambling and excessive drinking. Even though Bahuka had many wives, he had no children. He also acquired bad friends who led him further away from Dharma and eventually usurped his empire. Bahuka died due to his bad habits. At the time of his death, one of his wives was pregnant. The other wives were jealous of her and gave her poison to kill her along with the child. However, Sage Ourva used his tapaH shakti (spiritual powers) to save the child and mother. The baby was born along with the poison that was administered to kill him. Ourva named him sagara (sa = along with, gara = poison) and trained him to be a great emperor. Sagara was responsible for the creation of oceans and that is why they are called ‘saagara’.

All of this was possible only due to the dedication and power of Ourva rishi.

Atharva: The last of the saptarishis of svaayambhuva manvantara is Atharva. His son is Dadheechi atharvaNa or dadayanga atharvana. He became famous for giving his spine to Indra in order to create the Vajraayudha, which was used to kill Vrutraasura. Atharva or his son are not mentioned in the Mangalaashtaka.

Having looked at the saptarishis of svaayambhuva manvantara let us look at the sapta rishis of the current (Vaivasvata) manvantara.

They are – Kashyapa, Atri, Vasishtha, Vishvaamitra, Goutama, Jamadagni and Bhaaradwaaja. Out of these, Atri and Vasishta are common to both manvantaras.

VishvAmItra – the friend (mitra) of the Universe (Vishva): Ourva’s son was Rucheeka. He married Satyavati, the only child of Gaadhiraaja, a king in the Chandra vamsha. When Ruchika performed a yagna to get an offspring, Satyavati requested him to help her mother also. Accordingly, Ruchika split the result of his penance into 2 portions – one for his wife and one for his mother-in-law. The one meant for Satyavati was designed to produce a very great sage and the one for his mother-in-law was meant to produce a great warrior. Rucheeka went to the river to perform his rituals. However, Satyavati’s mother had the suspicion that the fruit meant for her would be less potent than the one meant for her daughter. She convinced her daughter to believe this theory. Accordingly, they exchanged the fruits and consumed them before Rucheeka’s return. When Rucheeka returned to Ashrama he realized (through his yogic powers) what had happened. He told them that they had committed a grave mistake, the consequences of which would be terrible. Mother and daughter were aghast on hearing this and begged him to reverse the effects. However, he expressed his inability to reverse what had happened and offered to delay the effect on his wife by one generation. His wife gave birth to Jamadagni and his mother-in-law gave birth to Vishwaamitra.

Vishwaamitra succeeded Gaadhiraaja as the King. He once witnessed the great powers of Vasishta and was fascinated by it. He decided to become a rishi like Vasishta. He gave up his kingdom and became an ascetic. He did severe penance on the banks of four different oceans and overcame many hurdles and distractions to become a raja-rishi and eventually a brahma rishi. He “saw” gAyatri mantra and bestowed it to humanity, thus proving that he was indeed a friend to everyone in the Universe (which is what his name means). He went to Ayodhya and requested the help of Raama and Lakshmana to perform his yagna that was being interrupted by demons. This also benefited humanity in many ways – the killing of demoness taaTaki, the release of ahalya from her curse and the marriage of Sita and Raama (along with the marriages of Lakshmana, Bharata and Shatrughna). Vishwaamitra also played a key role in demonstrating Harishchandra’s steadfastness and dedication to truth.

Jamadagni, the father of Parashurama: Jamadagni was the son of Rucheeka and Satyavati. He married Renuka devi and had 4 sons including Parashurama, the sixth incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Once Renuka got distracted and let her mind stray from her dharma. As a result, Jamadagni ordered his sons to kill her as a punishment. The first 3 refused and were cursed by Jamadagni for their disobedience. When Jamadagni asked Parashurama, he did not hesitate at all; he chopped off his mother’s head with his axe and was awarded a boon by his happy father. He immediately asked for his mother and brothers to be brought back to life.

Jamadagni was killed by Kartaveeryaarjuna in the course of a dispute over a divine cow. Angered by this, Parashurama vowed to rid Earth of all evil Kshatriyas. He went around the world 21 times, destroying all the vile Kshatriyas he encountered.. In the end, he gifted all the lands he had acquired by killing the kings to sages and carved out a piece of land for himself from the sea. He later trained Bheeshma, Drona and Karna in the martial arts; in turn, Drona trained all the kings and princes of that land.

Even though Parashurama was born in a brahmin family, he became known for his fearless valor, as predicted by Rucheeka. He has not terminated his incarnation and will be back in the forthcoming manvantara to rid the world of evil forces.

Gautama – the cause for Godavari and Vedavyasa: Gautama was a great rishi, belonging to the lineage of Angiras. He married Ahalya, the daughter of king Mudgala. Indra was infatuated by Ahalya and took on Gautama’s appearance in order to have conjugal relations with Ahalya. When Gautama realized this, he cursed Indra to suffer from a terrible disease and cursed Ahalya to become invisible within a stone.

The common perception is that Indra paid a price for his lust but that is not the whole truth and there is a hidden side to this episode. Through his severe penance Gautama had earned a lot more punya than he was entitled to. The celestials realized that this was upsetting the cosmic balance and decided to rid him of his excessive punya. In shastra it is clearly said that the quickest way to lose punya is to insult or hurt a superior soul. Indra is a much higher soul when compared to Gautama. So, by cursing Indra, Gautama quickly lost all his excess punya. He did not realize that Indra’s actions stemmed from his desire to preserve cosmic balance and not by lust.

When Raama visited Gautama ashrama, his feet touched the stone housing Ahalya and she was released from her curse. Raama then requested Gautama to take back Ahalya and live with her. Gautama did so happily. It is a coincidence that Janaka’s chief priest overseeing the wedding of Raama and Sita was Shataananda, the son of Gautama and Ahalya! It is said that he was repaying Raama for uniting his parents! Krupaachaarya and Krupi (the wife of Dronaachaarya) all belong to the lineage of Gautama.

There was once a great famine that spread far and wide. However, Sage Gautama’s spiritual powers (tapaH shakti) were so great that his ashrama was spared and there was plenty of water and greenery there. Sages and ascetics from far and wide sought refuge there and were welcomed with open arms by Gautama. This famine lasted for 12 years after which there were plenty of rains everywhere and there was no water scarcity. The people who had assembled in Gautama’s ashrama sought his permission to go back home. However, Gautama had become attached to them and pressed them to stay with him longer. Having benefited from his hospitality for so many years the ascetics found it very difficult to refuse his offer. So, they resorted to a subterfuge. They used their powers to create a magical cow that was sent to graze on Gautama’s fields. When Gautama touched the cow to pull it away from his fields it died. The ascetics accused him of gO-hatya (the heinous sin of killing a cow) and left his ashrama. The distraught Gautama prayed to Lord Shiva to help him. Shiva sent Ganga to revive the dead cow. That river became known as Godaavari (the river that revived the cow). Gautama realized the trick the ascetics that had played on him and became very angry. He cursed all of them to lose their knowledge and magical powers. This led to a situation where spiritual knowledge started decaying all around. The celestials were perturbed by this and approached Brahma for relief. He advised them to pray to Lord Vishnu to incarnate on Earth and revive spiritual knowledge. The Lord agreed and incarnated as Vedavyaasa, the son of Satyavati and Paraashara. He restored lost vedic texts and grouped them into 4 branches – Rig, Yajus, Saama and Atharva. He taught their meaning to his disciples and sent them to the far corners of the land to propagate this knowledge. He then composed Brahma sUtras to capture the essence of all vedas in short aphorisms. He also composed MahabhArata to serve as the foundation of all shastras. He also composed 18 puraaNas to explain and supplement the Vedas. As a result of these actions, spiritual knowledge was fully restored on Earth.

Bhaaradwaaja: He was the last of the sapta rishis of this vaivasvata manvantara. He was the son of Mamata and Utathya Rishi. He was performing penance on the banks of Ganga when he saw apsara Ghrutaachi and was enamored by her beauty. The feelings of lust aroused by her made him emit his bodily fluids. He captured and preserved it in a drona (a small container made of metal; called ‘donne’ in kannada). The child born out of this drona was none other than Dronaachaarya. Drona married Krupi (the sister of Krupaachaarya) and got Ashwatthaama, an incarnation of Shiva, as his son. He learnt martial arts from Lord Parashuraama and became the preceptor of Pandavas and Kauravas.

Agastya:  He was the son of pulastya. There are many great events associated with him. There was a great asura called kaalakeya who used to hide in the ocean and trouble devatas and mankind. When the devatas approached Lord Vishnu for relief he told them that kaalakeya would be exposed if somebody drank all the water in the ocean. The devatas approached Agastya for help and he obliged them by drinking the ocean, thereby enabling the devatas to kill kaalakeya.

Vindhyaachala mountain became jealous of Meru mountain and started growing in order to surpass Meru. It became so tall that it started obstructing the sun’s movement in the sky. The devatas approached Agastya, who was in North India. He immediately agreed and started travelling towards South India, carrying Ganga in his kamanDala. When he came across Vindhyaachala he ordered the mountain to bend down and give him passage; he also directed the mountain to stay in that position till his return. Once he crossed the mountain, he stayed back in South India and never went North again, thereby forcing Vindhyaachala to remain in the bent position forever. He earned the name Agastya through this act (‘aga’ = mountain, ‘stya’ = one who made it immobile). When he came to bhaagamandala to do penance his kamandala slipped from his hand and fell down, spilling Ganga on the ground. Another story says that a crow tipped his kamandala in its effort to drink the ater within the Kamandaala. This stream of water became Kaaveri. (Collect stories of rivers)

Maandavya: He was a great rishi. One day, thieves were looting the treasury of the king of the land. The King’s guards saw this and started chasing the thieves. The thieves became scared and dumped their loot in Mandavya’s ashrama and hid there. The King’s guards came to the ashrama and saw Maandavya in deep meditation. When they searched the ashrama they found the loot as well as the thieves. They assumed that Maadnavya was in league with the thieves and was pretending to be in meditation only to avoid punishment. They produced Maandavaya and the thieves before the King. Without enquiring into the background, the king summarily sentenced all of them to be impaled on a spear and put to death. This punishment was carried out and the thieves died. However, Maandavya did not die because of his great tapaH shakti. The guards saw this and took him to the King who also realized that this was a great sage and immediately ordered his release. However, a piece of the spear was buried in his body and could not be removed; from that day on, he was known as Ani-maandavya (Maandavya with spear).

After this incident, Maandavya went directly to Yamaloka and confronted Yama. He said “The king mistook me for a thief and ordered my punishment. I am not angry with him because he is a human and prone to make mistakes. But you are a devata and know the truth. Why did you permit this injustice to me?” Yama replied “O Great sage, when you were a young boy you tortured a butterfly by piercing its body with pins. Your punishment is a result of this sin”. This reply angered Maandavya and he said “You know very well that bad acts committed at a young age are not considered as sins, as children do not know the difference between right and wrong. Despite knowing this you allowed the king to punish me. I curse you to be born on earth in a very low caste as a daasi-putra (son of a maid servant)”. Yama willingly accepted this curse and took birth as Vidura, the son of Veda Vyasa and a lowly maid servant. Like Gautama, Maandavya had also acquired punya way beyond his eligibility. He lost this by cursing Yama, a much superior soul. That is why Yama went through this rigmarole even though he knew that the sins committed by Maandavya as a boy did not count.