Bābhravya

By Swami Harshananda

Bābhravya literally means ‘descendant of Babhru’.

Being a patronymic name it represents anyone who is a descendant of the sage Babhru. Following sages were known as Bābhravyas :

• The sage Girija of the Aitareya Brāhmana
• The sage Śaṅkha of Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmana
• The sage Gālava mentioned in the Mahābhārata was a great yogi and had organized the science of euphony of the Vedas (called Śikṣā).
• The Skāndapurāna also mentions about the existence of one Bābhravya.
• One Bābhravya is said to have produced a condensed version of Kāmaśāstra (the Science of Erotics), originally written by Svetaketu.
• One Bābhravya is said to have met Arjuna, the Pāṇḍava hero, during Arjun'as pilgrimage, and told him about the greatness of the sage Nārada.

References

• The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

Contributors to this article

Krishna Maheshwari, Deval Sancheti

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