Dirghatamas was an ancient Indian sage well known for his philosophical verses in the Rigveda.
14 Facts About Dirghatamas
1.
2.
Dirghatamas was the author of Suktas 140 to 164 in the first mandala of the Rigveda.
3.
Dirghatamas was one of the Angirasa rishis, the oldest of the rishi families, and regarded as brother to the rishi Bharadvaja, who is the seer of the sixth Mandala of the Rigveda.
4.
Dirghatamas is the chief predecessor of the Gotama family of rishis that includes Kakshivan, Gautama Maharishi, Nodhas and Vamadeva, who along with Dirghatamas account for almost 150 of the 1000 hymns of the Rigveda.
5.
Dirghatamas had a wife of the name Mamata whom he dearly loved.
6.
Dirghatamas continued, 'O illustrious Brihaspati, the child that I have conceived has studied in his mother's womb the Vedas with the six Angas, Seed is not lost in vain.
7.
Dirghatamas was troubled by a bad marriage, unvirtuous sons, and, ultimately, abandonment by other sages and the community.
8.
Dirghatamas's children grew up to be covetous and they brought a bad name upon themselves and their father.
9.
Ultimately, the sages and students of Dirghatamas abandoned him, for having raised bad men.
10.
Dirghatamas said he was not a real husband, neither a protector nor a supporter, and she had had to raise the children all alone.
11.
The king asked Dirghatamas to engage in niyoga so that Queen Sudeshna might be able to have children.
12.
The Queen sent the blind sage a woman of low birth instead and with that woman Dirghatamas sired Kakshivan and ten more sons.
13.
Later, Dirghatamas came to learn that he had been deceived, but Bali ultimately prevailed upon Queen Sudeshna to sire by the sage six sons, bequeathing them their namesake kingdoms of Anga, Vanga, Kalinga, Pundra, Cumbha, and Odra.
14.
Early scholars tried to say that the poems of Dirghatamas were of a later nature because of their content, but this has no linguistic support which has been argued by modern Sanskrit scholars.