Talk:Sakalya
Śākalya The Brhadāranyaka Upanisad (3.9) describes in detail, the philosophical dispu¬tation between Yājñavalkya and Vidagdha Śākalya in the court of the king Janaka- Vaideha. The discussion centered round the number of devas or gods. Ultimately, Yājñavalkya won and Śākalya lost his life due to the curse of the former. The main reason was that Śākalya was ‘Vidagdha’, vain and arrogant due to his scholarship. Some say that Vidagdha was his name (since he was a great scholar) whereas the word Śākalya indicated that he was the son of the sage Sakala. The Nirukta (6.28) mentions one Śākalya as a padapāṭhakāra (an expert in breaking the words of the Vedic Samhitā —See GHANAPĀTHA.) of the Rgveda. Another Śākalya is mentioned by Pāṇini (circa 500 B. C.) four times in his Astādhyāyī. He was probably a grammarian. The well-known sage Kaśyapa was once saved from public ridicule by a teacher, Śākalya by name, who prescribed some special purificatory rites.