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Maitreyi

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Maitreyiwho lived during the laterVedic periodinancient India.She is mentioned in theBrihadaranyaka Upanishad[1]as one of two wives of the Vedic sageYajnavalkya;she is estimated to have lived around the 8th century BCE. In the Hindu epicMahabharataand theGṛhyasūtras,however, Maitreyi is described as anAdvaitaphilosopher who never married. In ancientSanskritliterature, she is known as abrahmavadini(an expounder of theVeda).

Maitreyi appears in ancient Indian texts, such as in a dialogue where she explores the Hindu concept ofAtman(soul or self) in a dialogue with Yajnavalkya in theBrihadaranyaka Upanishad.According to this dialogue, love is driven by a person's soul, and Maitreyi discusses the nature of Atman and Brahman and theirunity,the core ofAdvaita philosophy.This Maitreyi-Yajnavalkya dialogue is the topic ofSureshvara'svarttika,a commentary.

Maitreyi is cited as an example of the educational opportunities available to women in Vedic India, and their philosophical achievements. She is considered a symbol of Indian intellectual women, and an institution is named in her honour inNew Delhi.

Early life

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Physical map of late Vedic India
Maitreyi, mentioned in Vedic texts, is believed to be from theMithila regionof eastern India.

In theAsvalayana Gṛhyasūtra,the daughter of the sage Maitri is referred to as Sulabha Maitreyi[2]and is mentioned in the Gṛhyasūtras with several other women scholars of the Vedic era.[2]Her father, who lived in the Kingdom of theVidehas,Mithila,was a minister in the court of KingJanaka.[2]

Although Maitreyi of ancient India,[3]described as anAdvaitaphilosopher,[1]is said to be a wife of the sageYajnavalkyain theBrihadaranyaka Upanishadin the time of Janaka, the Hindu epicMahabharatastates Sulabha Maitreyi is a young beauty who never marries.[2]In the latter, Maitreyi explains Advaita philosophy (monism) to Janaka and is described as a lifelong ascetic.[2]She is called abrahmavadini(a female expounder of theVeda) in ancientSanskritliterature.[4][5]Maitreyi and Yajnavalkya are estimated to have lived around the 8th century BCE.[6]

In theBrihadaranyaka Upanishad,Maitreyi is described as Yajnavalkya's scholarly wife; his other wife, Katyayani, was a housewife.[7]While Yajnavalkya and Katyayani lived in contented domesticity, Maitreyi studied metaphysics and engaged in theological dialogues with her husband in addition to "making self-inquiries of introspection".[7][8]

Maitreyi-Yajnavalkya dialogue

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In theRigvedaabout ten hymns are attributed to Maitreyi.[9]She explores the Hindu concept ofAtman(soul or self) in a dialogue contained in theBrihadaranyaka Upanishad.The dialogue, also called the Maitreyi-Yajnavalkya dialogue, states that love is driven by a person's soul, and it discusses the nature of Atman and Brahman and theirunity,the core ofAdvaita philosophy.[10][11]

This dialogue appears in several Hindu texts; the earliest is in chapter 2.4 – and modified in chapter 4.5 – of theBrihadaranyaka Upanishad,one of the principal and oldestUpanishads,dating from approximately 700 BCE.[12][13]The Maitreyi-Yajnavalkya dialogue has survived in two manuscriptrecensionsfrom theMadhyamdinaandKanvaVedic schools;although they have significant literary differences, they share the same philosophical theme.[14]

After Yajnavalkya achieved success in the first three stages of his life –brahmacharya(as a student),grihastha(with his family) andvanaprastha(in retirement) – he wished to become asannyasi(a renunciant) in his old age.[8][10]He asked Maitreyi for permission, telling her that he wanted to divide his assets between her and Katyayani. Maitreyi said that she was not interested in wealth, since it would not make her "immortal", but wanted to learn about immortality:[15]

Then said Maitreyi: "If now, Sir, this whole earth filled with wealth were mine, would I be immortal thereby?"
"No", said Yajnavalkya. "As the life of the rich, even so would your life be. Of immortality, however, there is no hope through wealth."
Then said Maitreyi: "What should I do with that through which I may not be immortal? What you know, Sir – that, indeed, tell me!"
Yajnavalkya replied to Maitreyi: "Ah! Lo, dear as you are to us, dear is what you say! Come sit down. I will explain to you. But while I am expounding, do seek to ponder thereon."

— Brihadaranyaka Upanishad2.4.2–4[15]

In the dialogue which follows, Yajnavalkya explains his views on immortality in Atman (soul), Brahman (ultimate reality) and their equivalence. Maitreyi objects to parts of Yajnavalkya's explanation, and requests clarification.[13]

Painting of a sage and four disciples, sitting near water
Adi Shankarawith his four foremost disciples, includingSureshvara;both wrote commentaries on the Maitreyi-Yajnavalkya dialogue from theBrihadaranyaka Upanishad.

Scholars have differing views on whether this dialogue is evidence that in ancient Vedic tradition women were accepted as active participants in spiritual discussions and as scholars of Brahman.[16][12]Wendy Doniger,anIndologistand a professor of History of Religions, states that in this dialogue Maitreyi is not portrayed as an author, but is part of an Upanishadic story of aBrahminwith two wives who are distinguished by their intellect.[17]Karen Pechelis, another American Indologist and a professor of Comparative Religion, in contrast, states that Maitreyi is portrayed as theologically minded, as she challenges Yajnavalkya in this dialogue and asks the right questions.[18]

First-millennium Indian scholars, such as Sureshvara (Suresvaracharya, c. 750 CE), have viewed this male-female dialogue as profound on both sides; Maitreyi refuses wealth, wishing to share her husband's spiritual knowledge, and in the four known versions of the Upanishadic story she challenges Yajnavalkya's theory of Atman.[14][19]Yajnavalkya acknowledges her motivations, and that her questions are evidence she is a seeker of ultimate knowledge and a lover of the Atman.[20]

The Maitreyi dialogue in the Upanishad is significant beyond being a gauge of gender relations. Adi Shankara, a scholar of the influentialAdvaita Vedantaschool ofHindu philosophy,wrote in hisBrihadaranyakopanishad bhashyathat the purpose of the Maitreyi-Yajnavalkya dialogue in chapter 2.4 of theBrihadaranyaka Upanishadis to highlight the importance of the knowledge of Atman and Brahman, and to understand their oneness.[21][22]According to Shankara, the dialogue suggests renunciation is prescribed in theSruti(vedic texts of Hinduism), as a means to knowledge of the Brahman and Atman.[23]He adds, that the pursuit of self-knowledge is considered important in theSrutibecause the Maitreyi dialogue is repeated in chapter 4.5 as a "logical finale" to the discussion of Brahman in the Upanishad.[24]

Nature of love

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The Maitreyi-Yajnavalkya dialogue includes a discussion of love and the essence of whom one loves, suggesting that love is a connection of the soul and the universal self (related to an individual):[25][26]

Lo, verily, not for love of a husband is a husband dear, but for the love of the Self a husband is dear.
Not for the love of the wife is a wife dear, but for love of the Self a wife is dear.

— Brihadaranyaka Upanishad2.4.2–4[13]

According to theological author and editor Robert Van De Weyer, this asserts that all love is a reflection of one's own soul: parents' love of their children, a love of religion or of the entire world.[27]German Indologist and Oxford University professorMax Müllersays that the love described in the Maitreyi-Yajnavalkya dialogue of theBrihadaranyaka Upanishadextends to all aspects of one's life and beyond; in verse 2.4.5, "TheDevas(gods) are not dear to one out of love for gods, but because one may love the Self (Atman) that the gods are dear ".[28]In the dialogue "the Brahman-class, the Kshatra-class, these worlds, these gods, these beings, everything that is what this Soul is", and when "we see, hear, perceive and know the Self, then all is known".[13][28]

Concluding his dialogue on the "inner self", or soul, Yajnavalkaya tells Maitreyi:[12]

One should indeed see, hear, understand and meditate over the Self, O Maitreyi;
indeed, he who has seen, heard, reflected and understood the Self – by him alone the whole world comes to be known.

— Brihadaranyaka Upanishad2.4.5b[29]

After Yajnavalkya leaves and becomes a sannyasi, Maitreyi becomes asannyassini– she too wanders and leads a renunciate's life.[30]

Legacy

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Maitreyi, who is also mentioned in a number ofPuranas,"is regarded as one of the most learned and virtuous women of ancient India"[31]and symbolizes intellectual women in India.[17]A college inNew Delhiis named after her,[4]as is the Matreyi Vedic Village, a retreat location inTamil Nadu.[32]

References

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  1. ^abOlivelle 2008,p. 140.
  2. ^abcdeJohn Muir,Metrical Translations from Sanskrit Writers,p. 251, atGoogle Books,page 251–253
  3. ^Bowen 1998,p. 59.
  4. ^abAhuja 2011,p. 39.
  5. ^According toMonier-Williams's Sanskrit-English Dictionary, "brahmavādín" means "discoursing on sacred texts, a defender or expounder of theVeda,one who asserts that all things are to be identified withBrahman(Ultimate Reality). It does not mean "one who speaks like God".
  6. ^Ben-Ami Scharfstein (1998).A Comparative History of World Philosophy: From the Upanishads to Kant.State University of New York Press. pp. 56–57.ISBN978-0-7914-3683-7.
  7. ^abPechilis 2004,pp. 11–15.
  8. ^abJohn Muir,Metrical Translations from Sanskrit Writers,p. 251, atGoogle Books,page 246–251
  9. ^Devika Rangachari (2011).Swami Vivekananda: A Man with a Vision.Penguin Books. p. 139.ISBN978-81-8475-563-3.
  10. ^abHino 1991,pp. 94–95.
  11. ^Brereton 2006,pp. 323–345.
  12. ^abcMarvelly 2011,p. 43.
  13. ^abcdHume 1967,pp. 98–102, 146–48.
  14. ^abBrereton 2006,pp. 323–45.
  15. ^abHume 1967,pp. 98–99.
  16. ^Majumdar 1977,p. 90.
  17. ^abDoniger 2010,p. 187.
  18. ^Karen Pechilis (2004).The Graceful Guru: Hindu Female Gurus in India and the United States.Oxford University Press. pp. 14–15.ISBN978-0-19-514537-3.
  19. ^Hino 1991,pp. 99–107.
  20. ^Hino 1991,pp. 4–5, 8, 104–107, Sureshvara'svarttika(commentary) on Adi Shankara'sBrihadaranyakopanishad bhashyaincludes passages in both Maitreyi's and Yajnavalkya's viewpoints (given here in Hino's English translation):
    [Maitreyi:] "If you wish to favour me or you want to be compassionate on me, then share with me that which you know [...], give me only that wealth, through the knowledge of which you, having renounced the entire wealth and means, wish to obtain the domain of light." –Brihadaranyakopanishad bhashya varttika(pp. 60–61),
    [Yajnavalkya:] "Unable to endure separation from me, as it were, owing to your great love for me, you wish to follow me even in liberation with the full desire of being one with me. Carried away by great love,Uma occupied half of Shiva body.But you, on your part, wish to secure the whole of me, the Atman, by your whole self. "–Brihadaranyakopanishad bhashya varttika(pp. 68–69).
  21. ^Hino 1991,pp. 5–6, 94.
  22. ^Paul Deussen (2015).The System of the Vedanta: According to Badarayana's Brahma-Sutras and Shankara's Commentary thereon.KB Classics Reprint. pp. 173–174.ISBN978-1-5191-1778-6.
  23. ^Hino 1991,pp. 54–59, 94–95, 145–149.
  24. ^Hino 1991,p. 5.
  25. ^Majumdar 1977,p. 204.
  26. ^Candrakīrti & Lang 2003,p. 52.
  27. ^Weyer 2013,p. 60.
  28. ^abBrihadaranyaka UpanishadMax Muller (Translator),Oxford University Press,p. 110
  29. ^Deussen 2010,p. 435.
  30. ^"Yajnavalkya's Marriages and His Later Life".Shukla Yajurveda.Shuklayajurveda Organization. Archived fromthe originalon 2 April 2015.Retrieved2 April2015.
  31. ^Geaves 2009,p. 484.
  32. ^"An Eco-Spiritual Retreat".Maitreyi - The Vedic Village.Retrieved11 December2015.

Bibliography

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