Shaunaka Maha Muni
Sant Shaunaka Maha Muni
Shaunaka is the name of the teacher of the Atharva Veda
Shaunaka was a great Sanskrit grammarian. He was famous for his works namely, the Rigveda-Pratisakhya, the Brihad-devata, the Carana-vyuha and other works. Shaunaka is stated as the teacher of Katyayana and especially of Ashvalayana, and is said to have united the Bashkala and Shakala Shakhas of the Rig veda. As mentioned in the Hindu legends, Shaunaka is often identified with Gritsamada, a Vedic Rishi.The Vishnu Purana affirms that Shaunaka was the son of Gritsamada, and invented the system of the four levels of human life. Shaunaka wrote Rigveda-Pratisakhya and taught it to others in the Satra-Yajna, a twelve day long Yajna.
In the epic Mahabharata
Shaunaka had an important role. The epic Mahabharata was narrated by story teller Ugrasrava Sauti to Shaunaka during a gathering of sages headed by Shaunaka in a forest named Naimisha. According to the Vishnu Purana, Shaunaka was the son of Gritsamada and invented the system of the four levels of human life. Sūta mahamuni narrated mythological stories to a group of sages headed by Shaunaka maha muni.
According to Vishnumitra of Champa town, the commentator of Uvaṭa‘s commentary of Ṛgveda-Prātiśākhya, Ṛgveda-Prātiśākhya is attributed to Shaunaka who taught it to others in a satra-yajna (a 12-day very large scale collective yajna) held in Naimisha.[3][4]
The Ṛgvidhāna, a Vidhāna text on the use of Rigvedic mantras, is also attributed to Shaunaka.[5] The Vidhana which he wrote helped simplify the rites and rituals written in the Shrauta and Gruhya shastras (scriptures
Purana and Itihasa (epic history)
Śaunaka (शौनक) was the chief of the sages at the great sacrifice in Naimiṣa forest to whom the Mahābhārata and the Purāṇas were recited by the Sūta in the reign of Adhisīmakṛṣṇa, the great-grandson of Janamejaya and the sixth in generation from Arjuna in the Paurava line.—Vāyu-purāṇa 1.12; 99, 255-8; Padma-purāṇa
1a) Śaunaka (शौनक).—A son of Śunaka; a great sage of the Ṛg Veda school. A kulapati; addressed Sūta as to the circumstances of the composition of the bhāgavata purāṇa;1 had his residence in Naimiṣālaya; taught knowledge of astra and kriyā to Śatānīka;2 a pupil of Pathya; divided the Atharva Samhitā between his two disciples Babhra and Saindhavāyana.3 A Kṣatropetadvija; four castes were formed under him;4 a mantrakṛt and a madhyamādhvaryu;5 asked Vaiśampāyana for a śānti ritual;6 initiated Śatānīka into ātmajñāna.7
Śaunaka (शौनक) the name of a Sage and devotee of Śiva, according to the 10th century Saurapurāṇa: one of the various Upapurāṇas depicting Śaivism.—It states that once some great sages Śaunaka and others, who were all devotees of Śiva, were performing a long continued sacrifice for the pleasure of this deity in the Naimiṣa forest. In the meantime Sūta Romaharṣaṇa came there.
Vaishnavism (Vaishava dharma)
Śaunaka (शौनक) is the name of an ancient teacher (ācārya) of Vāstuśāsta (science of architecture) according to the Matsyapurāṇa.—All these great teachers cannot be said to be legendary. Some used to be propagated in ancient India. No nation can flourish without its care for its material prosperity. All this technique and training and their systematic and successful teaching and transmission were of equal importance. Most of the treatises of Vāstuśāstra carry many of these names [i.e., Śaunaka], yet a good many of them are quoted as authorities, yet still others are honoured with actual passages being quoted from their works.
The location of the Gurukul was Nimisharanya. It is said that Shaunaka performed a 12-year-long Yajna at his ashram, which attracted a large number of learned men, who held incessant discussions about religion and philosophy. He wrote Shaunaka Grihasutra, Shaunaka Grihyaparishit, and Vastushastra Granth. He helped sages Romaharsha and Ugrasrava Sutha to spread the Puranas and Itihasa among a large masses.[grashravas was an auditor at Takshila. He travelled to Naimiṣāraṇya forest. There he met with the sage Shaunaka and a large group of Brahmins studying at the Shaunaka Mahashala. The Shaunaka Mahashala is considered as the ancient form of university in the Indian Subcontinent by scholars. It is also known as Naimishyaranya University.The Brahmin scholars in the ashram asked about Janamejaya’s snake sacrifice with the sage Ugrashravas. Then Ugrashravas recited the story of the Mahabharata as recited by Vaishampayana to him with some additional materials] This is the place where Shrimad Bhagavatam was preached. The life of the university is mentioned in Adi Parva of the Mahabharata.The philosophical conversation between the sage Pippalada and the sage Shaunaka at the Shaunaka Mahashala was recorded as Brahma Upanishad or Brahmopanishad
Alternate name or names include:- Asuracharya, Shukra, Shukra Rishi, Shukra Muni, Shukra Bhrigu, Shukra Dev, Shukra Kavi, Shukra Jyotish, Shukra Bhagavan, Shukra Vaidya, Sukhra sage.
he other half became the knowledge source of the asuras (demons).[5] Shukra, in the Puranas, is blessed by Shiva with Sanjeevini Vidhya after performing tapas to propitiate Shiva. Sanjeevini Vidhya is the knowledge of raising the dead back to life,
Rishi Shaunaka (Sanskrit: शौनक, IAST: śaunaka) is the name applied to teachers, and to a Shakha of the Atharvaveda. It is especially the name of a celebrated Sanskrit grammarian, author of the Ṛgveda-Prātiśākhya, the Bṛhaddevatā, the Caraṇa-vyūha and six Anukramaṇīs (indices) to the Rigveda. He is claimed as the teacher of Katyayana and especially of Ashvalayana, and is said to have united the Bashkala and Shakala Shakhas of the Rigveda. In legend, he is sometimes identified with Gritsamada, a Vedic Rishi. According to the Vishnu Purana, Shaunaka was the son of Gritsamada and invented the system of the four levels of human life. Sūta maha muni narrated mythological stories to a group of sages headed by Shaunaka maha mu
Source – Acharyaa
