Rishi Angirasa- Applied Indologoy

While creating this world, Lord Brahma created his sons ‘Prajapatis’ and ‘Manasaputras’ to whom he can give the different tasks of creation. Firstly, Lord Brahma created Prajapatis and later, with his intellect, he created another son, a Manasaputra. Angira / Angirasa is one amongst the ten Manasputras. Lord Brahma created Angira as his third ‘Manasputra’, the one with divine intellect. Rishi Angiras has the quality of luminious consciousness, enlightened, full of brilliance, awake within his SELF.

Angirasa literally means the sap of the body or essence of the body. It is usually a reference to the breath in the body, which is considered the lord of the organs. All the organs are also referred to as breaths because breath is their essence and it supports them. Angirasa also means the radiant one or the one with a radiant body. Due to his tapas, Rishi Angirasa came to be known as Angira which means to “shine like fire.” The Brihadaranyaka and Chandogya Upanishads refer to the breath as the Ayasa Angiras, because it is their essence and it removes their weariness.

Angirasa is one of the Saptarishis, or Seven Great Sages of the first Manvantara. He is born of the semen of Lord Brahma given to the cinder of fire. It is considered that Rishi Angirasa is still performing austerity and Tapas at a place known as Alakananda on the bank of the Ganges. Angirasa, or Angira Rishi along with rishi Atharvana, is credited with having formulated (“heard”) most of the fourth Veda, the Atharva Veda. He is also mentioned in the other three Vedas. The hymns of the Atharvaveda are called Angirasas.

Atharvaveda contains mantras, a mixture of prose and poetry, by which one can ward off ill energies and can be assured about the destruction of one’s enemies. It has references to deities not mentioned in the other vedic literature and has mantras addressed to fierce spirits. Today known to us today as “mantrikam.”

The supreme deity of the Sumerian pantheon is AN, or Anu. In the first two letters of the Sanskrit word An-gir-as, AN could refer to Anu. GIR might relate to the Akkadian fire-god— fire as in rocket propulsion. DinGIR in the cuneiform / Pre historic writings meant sky or heaven, and also meant a god or goddess. The masters of the sky were perceived as deities by the earthbound. This reminds of Angiras and his descendants, the Angirasas, as a group of higher beings who traversed the realms between gods and men — an inter-stellar and inter-dimensional elite.

The plural form of his name, Angirasas, denotes his direct descendents and the members of the school of thought founded by him. Considered by scholars as a great poet of ancient times, the Rig Veda does not contain any of his actual writings. There are no compositions of the poet Angiras in the Rig Veda — only those of his descendents. However “a great number of poets with the patronymic Angirasas have contributed to the bulk of the Rig Veda.

The Angirasas are among oldest families of Rishis in the Rig Veda. These Rigvedic rishis are the inter-stellar and inter-dimensional ‘engineers’, astrophysicists, men and women who were masters of space technology in the galaxies, and simultaneously adepts of advanced metaphysics. Angirasas are considered as the World Guardians.

The name Angirasas is applied generically to several Puranic individuals and things: a class of Pitris, the ancestors of man, who may be descended from the Rishi Angirasa. In the Rigveda, Agni is also sometimes referred to as Angirasa, or as a descendant of Angirasa (RV 1.1). Mandala 6 of the Rigvedais attributed to a family of Angirasas. Angira is closely associated with agni, being born from sacrificial fire of Varuna: “Varunasya Rutoujatahpawakadity nah shrutam”. The Angirasas are described as the sons of the flame resembling the lustre of the dawn and as the drinkers of Soma. The decendents of Angirasas are said to be responsible for the sacrifices performed as per the instructions given in the Atharvaveda.

The Angirasas who professed worship of younger gods (Deva) were the preceptors of the Puru Aryans the heroes of Rig Veda on the east of the Sindhu. They are hailed as the warriors, the fighters for the cows or rays of sun (gosu yodhaah); and are credited with gaining back the cows, the horses, the waters and all treasures from the grasp of the sons of Darkness. Their association with the Dawn and the Sun and the Cows comes through in several ways.

Angirasa’s wives were Suvadha, Smriti (the daughter of Daksha) and Shraddha (Daughter of Kardama Muni). Agneya (the daughter of Agni and Agnayi) is considered to be the mother of Angiras. Rishi Angirasa begot seven sons, Brihat Keerti also known as Utathya, Brihat Jyothi also known as Samavarta, Brihat Brahma, Brihat Manas, Brihat Bhanu and Brihaspati (Guru of Demigods). He also begot seven daughters Bhanumati, Raka, Cinee Vali, Ekaneka, Archisamati, Mahishmati and Mahamati. Angiras’ daughters are the Pratyangirasa Richas, the thirty five verses addressed to presiding divinities.

The Rishi Bharadwaja is from his lineage. The people in the lineage use Angirasa or Angira as their last name. Angirasa along with the Syavambhu Manvantara Saptarishis and other two sages Bhrigu and Adharva is one among the Nava Brahmas of the Progenitors of Human race got married to the daughter of Kardama Prajapati. Buddhist texts refer to Lord Buddha to be the descendent of Angiras. He is said to be the religious preceptor of the natives of different planets. The Angirasas and the Bhrigus families represent the pre-Rig Vedic past: they go so far back into the past. They are deified as ‘a race of higher beings between Gods and men’ …the Bhrigus and the Atharvans are synonymous with fire-priests in general. …the names of these two families are also found in the Iranian and Greek texts.

Lineage of Angirasas were users of words and were superb poets. They are the masters of the Rik who expressed their thought with clarity and brightness (svaadhibhir rkvabhih – RV: 6. 32.2).Their poetry is charged with high idealism, soaring human aspirations and an intense desire to grow out of the limited human confines.The Angirasas were more closely associated with mountains, hills, dales, vast open spaces; and were mainly in the foothill regions of the Himalayas. They were more attuned to contemplation and pursuit of knowledge (than wealth and pleasure). They adopted the yajna and soma practices from the Bhrigus. The Angirasas compiled their periodic book with reference to star bearing the name of their preceptor Brihaspathi, Guru (Jupiter) (as did the people of ancient Chinese, Japanese, Malaya, Indonesia, etc).

Rishi Angirasa under the direction of Lord Brahma practiced severe penance that the radiance which he accumulated started filling the whole creation and the humans started worshipping Angirasa instead of Agni deva for various ritualistic purposes because of which Agni deva could not tolerate the disrespect, stopped supporting the three worlds and disappeared. Even though he had divine effulgence still he does not have the power to control the fire because of which it created difficulties for the creatures of materialistic world. Realizing his mistake, Rishi Angirasa pleaded Agni deva and hence Agni deva appeared again from his hidden place and started serving the worlds as usual by forgiving Rishi Angirasa. In this way, Angirasa became the first son of Agni.

One of the stories related to Rishi Angirasa is mentioned in the Mundaka or Mandukya Upanishad. A householder by the name Saunaka carried his firewood and reached the forest where Rishi Angirasa was. He approaches the Rishi reverently “O Holy Rishi, teach me that through which the whole universe can be known.” Rishi Angirasa goes on to explain the two different kinds of knowledge on this Earth. The lower knowledge he stated, are the sciences, hymns, rituals, grammar, poetry astrology etc. The higher knowledge is that which leads a man to that which never dies. The Indestructible.

Rishi Angiras explained this further says “This body is like a tree in which two birds live. They look alike. The lower bird is tasting the fruits of the tree and some are sweet and others are sour. The higher bird is just watching the lower bird. One day the lower bird is tired of everything and starts to weep. The lower bird sees the higher bird which is calm, unattached and at peace. The lower bird hops towards the higher one. It suddenly realizes that the upper bird is also just himself, his true Self . Knowing this, his grief disappears. He realises that the Ego was not real, the Self was real, the observer of all.”
Angirasa is one of the Saptarshis of the first Manvantara with others having many reflections from Vedic era to Puranic era.

According to a legend Rishi Angirasa’s son, Samvarta is still in his physical body and living as a wandering naked monk in Varanasi as an enlightened soul. He acts like a lunatic and shuns the company of humans. He curses and throws stones at people who try to see him. But if anybody perseveres and longs to see him, he blesses them with liberation

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About Author:
Subhasini BA, is a Screenplay writer, Director, creative director, costume designer and producer, whose work has featured in some of the most prestigious film festivals in the country and internationally. She has collaborated on several film projects juggling different roles. 

In beginning of her career, she worked as Associate director and Costume Designer with the acclaimed director Girish Kasaravalli. She’s written and directed a documentary film on the famed Krishna Temple in Udupi, and also written plays, screenplays for films and short form content for some of the leading technology companies in India, including Microsoft, Akamai Technologies, LAM Research, and SAP. 

With Knowledge in Sanskrit, Subhasini is a seeker of the Eternal Truth / Santana Dharma, writes on dharma. She is passionate about History, Mythology, Philosophy and Spirituality. She believes Dharma is the manifestation of the natural strength of every living soul.
She lives in Cincinnati.

Image Courtesy: Wikimedia

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