Yagnavalkya

Yajnavalkya
Yajnavalkya teaches Brahma Vidya to King Janaka
Religion	Hinduism
Philosophy	Advaita
Spouse	Maitreyi, Katyayani
Honors	Rishi

Yajnavalkya (Sanskrit: याज्ञवल्क्य, Yājñavalkya) is a Hindu Vedic sage. He is mentioned in the Upanishads, and likely lived in the Videha kingdom of northern Bihar approximately between the 8th century BCE, and the 7th century BCE. Yajnavalkya is considered one of the earliest philosophers in recorded history, after Aruni. Yajnavalkya proposes and debates metaphysical questions about the nature of existence and impermanence, and expounds the epistemic doctrine of neti neti ("not this, not this") to discover the universal Self and Ātman. His ideas for renunciation of worldly attachments have been important to Hindu sannyasa traditions.

Yajnavalkya is credited for coining Advaita (non-dual, monism), another important tradition within Hinduism. Texts attributed to him, include the Yajnavalkya Smriti, Yoga Yajnavalkya and some texts of the Vedanta school. He is also mentioned in various Brahmanas and Aranyakas.

He welcomed participation of women in Vedic studies, and Hindu texts contain his dialogues with two women, Gargi Vachaknavi and Maitreyi.

Yanjavalkya is estimated to have lived in around the 8th century BCE, or 7th century BCE.

In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, a set of dialogues suggest Yajnavalkya has two wives, one Maitreyi who challenges Yajnavalkya with philosophical questions like a scholarly wife; the other Katyayani who is silent but mentioned as a housewife. While Yajnavalkya and Katyayani lived in contented domesticity, Maitreyi studied metaphysics and engaged in theological dialogues with her husband in addition to "making self-inquiries of introspection". In contrast to the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, the epic Mahabharata states Maitreyi is a young beauty who is an Advaita scholar but never marries.