Angiras (sage)

Angiras (sage)

Angiras (अंगिरस्, pronounced as /əngirəs/; nominative singular Angirā, अंगिरा, pronounced as /əngirα:/) is a rishi (or sage) who, along with sage Atharvan, is credited to have formulated ("heard") most of the fourth Veda called Atharvaveda. He is also mentioned in the other three Vedas. Sometimes he is reckoned as one of the Seven Great Sages, or saptarishis of the first Manvantara, with others being, Marichi, Atri, Pulaha, Kratu, Pulastya, and Vashishtha Bharadwaja maharshis was his descendant.

His wife is Surūpa and his sons are Utatya, Samvartana and Brihaspati. He is one of the ten Manasaputras (wish-born-son) of Lord Brahma. Other accounts say that he married Smriti (memory), the daughter of Daksha.

The name Angirasas is applied generically to several Puranic individuals and things; a class of Pitris, the ancestors of man according to Hindu Vedic writings, and probably descended from the sage Angiras. In the Rigveda, Agni is sometimes referred to as Angiras or as a descendant of Angiras (RV 1.1). In the Rigveda, Indra drives out cows from where they had been imprisoned by either a demon (Vala) or multiple demons (the Panis) and gifts them to the Angirasas (RV 3.31, 10.108 and a reference in 8.14). Mandala 6 of the Rigveda is attributed to a family of Angirasas.