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Yajnavalkya Jayanti

Yajnavalkya or Yagyavlkya was a Hindu Vedic sage. He is mentioned in the Upanishads, and likely lived in the Videha region of ancient India, approximately between the 8th century BCE, and the 7th century BCE. Yajnavalkya is considered one of the earliest philosophers in recorded history. Yajnavalkya proposes and debates metaphysical questions about the nature of existence, consciousness and impermanence, and expounds the epistemic doctrine of neti neti ("not this, not this") to discover the universal Self and Atman. His ideas for renunciation of worldly attachments have been important to Hindu sanyasa traditions.

Yajnavalkya is credited for coining the Advaita (non-dualism, 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 philosophers, Gargi Vachaknavi and Maitreyi.

History

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. His name Yajnavalkya is derived from yajna which connotes ritual.

Texts

Yajnavalkya is associated with several other major ancient texts in Sanskrit, namely the Shukla Yajurveda, the Shatapatha Brahmana, the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, the Dharmasastra named Yajnavalkya Smrti, Vriddha Yajnavalkya, and Brihad Yajnavalkya. He is also mentioned in the Mahabharata and the Puranas, as well as in ancient Jainism texts such as the Isibhasiyaim.