dirgha tamas- a vedic seer

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dirgha tamas, son of mamatha and uthadya, is a blind vedic seer. he

proudly proclaimed the name of his mother,(RV I:158:6)unlike

bharadwaja, who was born of mamata too from brhspati.

 

his rks to agni and vishnu are very beautiful. he acknowledges agni

to hv cured him of his blindness. (rv I:147:3) His rks to vishnu in

I:154 and 155 are really good. he expresses the devotional wish to

reach the ultimate vishnu padam (I:154:5,6)

 

He also displays the vedantic knowledge. " i don;t know whether i

exist or not'(I:164:39) and yogic knowledge " nity and anitya,

united in the body will take it to upwards or downwards and take it

aroud the worlds."(I:164:38) and talks of the mahadakasa(I:164:39)

 

the analogy of two birds representing jiva and the brahman is also

given by DT(I:164:20 and repeated in munda (Mu. U. III.1.1-3)

 

The story of dt is also referred in vayu purana and mbh.

 

such deerga tamas had to undergo lots of torture in the hands of his

wife, sons and even slaves. his sons bind him and throw him into the

waters bound in a row boat.

 

this story may be an allegory also- his sons, wife, slaves

representing the sense organs and binding meaning the bondages and

the sea representing the samsara sagara. and of course, the

blindness may be referring to the ignorance. since he repeatedly

says 'i am ignorant'

 

in any case, He is rescued by a king and requested to give him

progeny through his wife. Till here, it is a common story between rv

and later texts.

 

rv acknowledges kaksivan as his son. when dt approaches the queen

for a union, he replaces herself with her servant maid and kaksivan,

an artisan, is born.

 

kaksivan who was not getting a wife is presented with 'Vrcha' by

indra.

 

on the other hand, vayu purana says he did beget sons from the queen

and all these sons, vanga, pundra, andhra etc are connected with

eastern coast.

 

even his other son, dhanvantari, is connected with sea.

 

kishore