Vidagdha Shakalya | |
|---|---|
विदग्ध शाकल्य | |
| Personal life | |
| Died | Court of KingJanaka |
| Home town | Kuru Panchala |
| Alma mater | Ancient Mithila University |
| Known for | Shastrartha with Yajnavalkya |
| Other names | Devamitra |
| Occupation | Acharya |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | SanatanaHinduism |
| Philosophy | Indian philosophy |
| Creed | Paila |
| Profession | Indian philosopher |
| EighthBrahmin scholar who debated with Yajnavalkya in theBahudakshina Yajna at the court of King Janaka in theMithila Kingdom | |
Shakalya was an ancient Indian grammarian and scholar ofVedic period. His original name wasVidagdha. Since he was the son of the Vedic sageShakala, he was also called asShakalya.[1][2][3]
He is supposed to have revised the Vedic texts and written theirPada-pāṭha. He is often quoted byPāṇini and the writers of thePrātiśākhya, treatises on phonetics. His Padapāṭha of theRig Veda was one of the early attempts in the direction of analysis; he broke down thesamhita text of the Rig Veda into words, identifying even the separate elements of compound words.[4][5]
Shakalya was a disciple of Satyasri and belonged to the school of Paila. He was a contemporary ofYajnavalkya. According toBrahmanda Purana, once during theAshvamedha Yajna, kingJanaka wanted to know who was the greatestbrahmana called asBrahmistha among all those present there. So, he brought a thousand cows, gold, jewels and servants to his court and announced that whoever considered himself the most knowledgeable might come forward and take away all these. A commotion started among the sages who all started debating with each other. Suddenly Yajnavalkya asked his disciples to arrange for taking away all the wealth to his ashrama. Seeing this, the sages challenged him to prove that he is the greatest.Aswala,Uddalaka Aruṇi,Kahola Kaushitaki,Gargi and the others who were present asked him several questions and he answered all of them. Finally, Yajnavalkya told Shakalya that he wanted to give him a chance too. Shakalya asked him several questions related tokama and Yajnavalkya answered all of them. When all his questions ended, Yajnavalkya told Shakalya that now he will ask a question, but there is a condition. If Shakalya cannot answer the question correctly, he will die immediately. Shakalya accepted the challenge. However, when Yajnavalkya asked him a question related to kama, Shakalya did not know the answer and so he died there.
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