Article compilation : Rama Chintakunta Sage Angirasa is one of the manasaputras (wish-born son) of Lord Brahma who created him to have assistance in the process of creation. Angirasa has great radiance which can fill the three worlds and it kept on growing as his perseveringly practiced penance as commanded by his father, Lord Brahma. He attained many siddhis (powers), riches and control over many worlds. Lord Brahma also said to him that he was born by the wish, as a part of it Brahma himself is multiplying various species. Hence, Sage Angirasa is created to assist Lord Brahma in his creation process and has to be progenitors of human race when directed by Brahma and until then he kept on performing penance. Sage Angirasa by performing penance in such a immense way improved his radiance and became one with Parabrahma, the Almighty, hence he attained to be one of the Saptarishis of first Manvantara(Syavambhu Manvatara), the others being Atri, Vasistha, Marichi, Pulasthya (Grandfather of Ravana), Pulaha, Kratu. Angirasa is the grandfather of Sage Bharadwaja, one of the saptarishis of present Manvatara (seventh one known as Vaivaswata Manvantara). 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. His wife’s name was Devahooti. The couple of Kardama Prajapati and Devahooti by the grace of Lord Vishnu (performed penance on the banks of River Saraswati) begot 9 daughters who were married to these nine Brahmins. He gave Kala to Marichi, Anasuya to Atri, Shraddha to Angirasa, Havribhuvu to Pulaha, Gati to Pulastya, Kriya to Kratu, Khyati to Bhrigu, Arundhati to Vashishta, and Shanti to Adharva and performed their marriages. They along with their husbands performed penance and led transcendental life by giving up all the materialistic desires which led them to live a celestial and blissful life. As per the direction of Lord Brahma, they practiced Grihashrama Dharma (family life) and gave birth to their children. Sage 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. Samvarta is believed to be living in his physical body near Varanasi as a naked monk as a practice of total vairagya or transcendentalism. He has shun the company of humans completely and being a monk of absolute intensity will curse or throw stones if mundane humans try to go near him, but if one perseveres and sincere in their search for liberation, he would certainly bless them. Descendents of Sage Angirasa seem to possess Angirasa or Angira as their last name or surname. Lord Gautama Buddha is believed to be from Angirasa’s lineage according to some Buddhist texts as the descendents of Angirasa became a part of Kshatriya tribe and even Gautama’s father, King Sudhodana, gave him one more name as Angirasa along with well-known name as Siddhartha. Angirasa is known to be the first English rishi. As a proof of this, the word for the term ‘English’ in Hindi is known as ‘Angrezi’, it means people from Angadesha (known to be spiritual preceptors). Angadha (son of Vaali in Ramayana) is known to be the prince of Anga Desha. Angirasa like wise has many descendants. He is the ancestor for Hamites also. Hamites are the descendents of Son of Noah by name Ham who migrated to North Africa and when it comes to living style and language, the Africans do have some lineage from this Hamitic race. When it comes of other descendents, they are known as Angirasa Brahmins who are descended from the Engineer of Devas (Demigods) Vishwabrahma (known to have built City of Dwaraka and Indraprasthya, Capital of Pandavas under the command of Lord Krishna in Dwapara Yuga). His descendents are known to belong to a sub-caste of Hindu community known as Vishwa Brahmins and are categorized into five sub-groups according to occupation – carpenters, bell metalworkers, blacksmiths, goldsmiths and stonemasons. Sage Angirasa along with Sage Atharvan (one of nine Brahmas) has envisioned the fourth veda, Atharvana Veda. He has also composed many hymns in other three Vedas, specifically he contributed for Rigveda Mandala 6. Mandala 6 has many hymns which are for the worshipping of Deities Agni, Indra, Chandra, Surya, Ushas, and Varuna, Vishevas, Maruts, Ashwins(Sons of Sun God whom he has given birth by taking the form of a Horse along with his wife Usha Devi), worshipping of rivers Sapta Sindhu, Nadistuti, Saraswathi, Sindhu, Sarayu (Lord Rama’s kingdom existed on the banks of this River), and Rasa and worshipping Sages Gristamada, Vishwamitra, Vamadeva, Atri, Angirasa, Bharadwaja and Vasistha. For more information check these links: When it comes to Legends of Sage Angirasa, the literal term Angirasa means essence of the body, i.e., the root word of organ in any of the Indian language is known as Anga (organ of the body) which actually refers to the breath of the body. As it is well-known scientific fact that breathing process is the actual support of the life force for all creatures on this earth. According to Brihadaranya and Chandogya Upanishads, breath is referred as Ayasa Angirasa i.e., essence of life which removes weariness. This simple explanation of breath about life will give us a strong spiritual evidence of Sage Angirasa being one of the Progenitors of Human race and also a proof for the whole descendent account which we have been discussing so far. Sage Angirasa is believed to be spiritual son of Lord Agni and hence attained the status of Agni through the performance of austerities. Sage 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 Lord Agni for various ritualistic purposes because of which Lord Agni 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 folly, sage Angirasa pleaded Lord Agni and hence Lord Agni appeared again from his hidden place and started serving the worlds as usual by forgiving Sage Angirasa. In this way, Sage Angirasa became the first son of Lord Agni. According to Manduka Upanishad, there goes one more legend about Sage Angirasa. There was one householder by name Saunaka who was very much inclined to attain the ultimate knowledge. Hence he approached Sage Angirasa to fulfill his thirst for the knowledge. Sage Angirasa accepted him as a disciple and provided him with two types of knowledge. The first one is the lower knowledge i.e., vedic knowledge which has the information of rituals to worships Gods, Rivers, Demons etc., various sciences like astrology, medicine, engineering etc., fine arts like dance, music, poetry etc., and the second type of knowledge is the actual ultimate knowledge i.e., Atma Jnana or Knowledge about Self, the Indestructible(which never dies). Sage Angirasa to simplify the concept of Atma Jnana further explains that the body is a like a tree which has two birds and they look very similar to each other. One bird it is totally busy in materialistic activities and acts and reacts according to the circumstances, forms relationships and relates itself with everything which happens around. The other bird does nothing but just keeps on watching. The first bird as the end of the life nears starts weeping because of the various circumstances of life and it can see the other bird is jumping to the higher branches of the tree. As it watches the other bird to advance, the first bird also follows the second bird. Upon reaching the highest branch and sitting beside the second bird, the first bird realizes that the other bird is no different from it and hence unites in it. In this reference, the second bird is the Self or Atma whereas the first bird is the Ego which unnecessarily distinguishes itself from the Ultimate Super being, the Almighty himself, the real one, the observer of all. The life stories of the great sages are never ending and their presence is seen in their descendents of human race. The stories are here only to know that we all belong to the one family of Almighty and we are here in this world to realize this basic fact and utilize the precious time of this human life to go back to Godhead and re-unite ourselves with the Almighty just like the first bird of the above story. More evidences and more legends will come on Samskruti to prove the same purpose i.e., human life is to realize the Godliness and we all have to try our best to release ourselves from this vicious circle of life and death where the soul has to pass thorough as many as 8.4 million species of life forms to attain one more human body. It is the quality of any intelligent human being to realize this fact and go back to Godhead; otherwise the soul will move from one body to other body.
