Pippalada

Pippalada was an ancient Indian Vedic sage and philosopher in Hindu tradition. He is known to have written the Prashna Upanishad, which is among the ten Mukhya Upanishads. He was the founder of Pippalada School of thought, which taught the Atharvaveda.^[1]

Birth[]

At the time his father Dadhichi gave up his life to donate his bones to Indra and help him defeat the asur Vritra, his wife Swarcha was pregnant with Pippalada. When Swarcha came to know about death of her husband, she placed the infant Pippalada under a pippal tree. Then she took samadhi to reunite with her husband. The infant Pippalada was taken care of by Dadhichi's sister, Dadhimati. He helped himself to the pippal leaves and amrit (nectar) given by Chandra dev (God of Moon).

Revenge with Indra[]

When Pippalada grew up and came to know about the way his parents died, he performed a heavy penance to Lord Shiva and obtained a demon to kill all the devatas. All the devatas went to Shiva for protection. Shiva made Pippalada realize that nothing can be gained by killing the devatas as it will not bring his parents back.

Defeating Shani[]

Pippalada defeated Shani. Shani to save his life promised that he will never trouble anyone below 16 years of age.

Prashna Upanishad[]

The following six sages: Kabandhin Katyayana, Bhargava Vaidarbhi, Kausalya Asvalayana, Sauryayanin Gargya, Saibya Satyakama and Sukesan Bharadvaja approached Pippalada asking him about purpose of life. They performed austerities for a year and asked six questions. These questions and answers later came to be known as the Prashna Upanishad.

References[]