History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c26.244.1

v2.c26.244.1

Though the word pravara does not occur in the Ṛgveda, the word 'ārṣeya' occurs therein and the system of pravara goes back almost to the Ṛgveda. Ṛg. IX. 97. 51 has 'thereby may we acquire wealth and ārṣeya resembling Jamadagni's.' Sometimes the idea of invoking Agni is conveyed without using the word pravara or ārṣeya. In Ṛg. VIII. 102. 4¹¹³⁵ it is said ‘I invoke Agni just as Aurva, Bhṛgu and Apnavāna did.’ It is remarkable that these are three of the five pravara sages of the Vatsa-Bhṛgus according to Baud. (3). Ṛg. I. 45. 3 has ‘O Jātavedas (Agni), give heed to the summons of Praskaṇva, as in the case of Priyamedha, Atri, Virūpa and Aṅgiras.’¹¹³⁶ In Ṛg. VII. 18. 21 it is said ‘they who from house to house gladdened thee, being desirous of thee, viz. Parāśara, Śatayātu and Vasiṣṭha, will not forget the friendship of a liberal patron (like thee)’.¹¹³⁷ It deserves to be noted that this mantra mentions Parāśara (who in later mythology is the grandson of Vasiṣṭha and son of Śakti), Śatayātu (who is Śakti according to Sāyaṇa), and Vasiṣṭha. Parāśara, Śakti and Vasiṣṭha constitute the pravara of Parāśara gotra (according to Āśv. and Baud). In the Atharvaveda (XI. 1. 16, XI. 1. 25, 26, 32, 33, 35, XII. 4. 2 and 12, XVI. 8. 12-13) ārṣeya means ‘descendants of sages or those who are related to sages’. In the Tai. S. both ārṣeya and pravara occur in the sense of the sūtras. In the Tai. S. II. 5. 8.