Brahmarishi Bharadwaja
Other names: Bharadvaja. A great sage of the Angirasa/Brihaspati line and father of Drona. The Mahabharata connects him with advanced knowledge of weapons through Agnivesa and with the early education of Drona and Drupada; Vedic tradition also remembers Bharadwaja as a major seer.
“”‘In days of yore, while the great Rishi Bharadwaja was saying his prayers by the side of the celestial Ganga, one of the three feet of Vishnu, when he assumed his three-footed form, reached that spot. Beholding that strange sight, Bharadwaja assailed Vishnu with a handful of water, upon which Vishnu’s bosom received a mark (called Sreevatsa)”
“Before now Bharadwaja of great prowess and the foremost of those possessing a knowledge of arms, had communicated to the illustrious Agnivesa, a knowledge of the weapon called Agneya. O foremost one of Bharata’s race, the Rishi (Agnivesa) sprung from fire now communicated the knowledge of that great weapon to Drona the son of his preceptor. There was a king named Prishata who was a great friend of Bharadwaja. About this time Prishata had a son born unto him, named Drupada. And that bull among Kshatriyas, viz., Drupada, the son of Prishata, used every day to come to the hermitage of Bharadwaja to play with Drona and study in his company. O monarch, when Prishata was dead, this Drupada of mighty arms became the king of the northern Panchalas. About this time the illustrious Bharadwaja also ascended to heaven. Drona continuing to reside in his father’s hermitage devoted himself to ascetic austerities. Having become well-versed in the Vedas and their branches and having burnt also all his sins by asceticism, the celebrated Drona, obedient to the injunctions of his father and moved by the desire of offspring married Kripi, the daughter of Saradwat.” – The Mahabharata, Book 1: Adi Parva: Sambhava Parva: Section CXXXI
