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{{short description|Ancient sage in Hinduism}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{for|the genus of spiders|Astavakra}}
{{Infobox Hindu leader
| name               = Ashtavakra
| image              = Ashtavakra.jpg
| caption            = Aṣṭāvakra was born with physical handicap and grew up into a celebrated sage in Hinduism, 19th-century painting.
| religion           = [[Hinduism]]
| spouse             = Suprabha
| father             = [[Kahoda]]
| mother             = Sujata
| birth_place        = [[Videha]], present day [[Janakpur, Nepal]]
| region             = [[Mithila region]]
| teachers           = [[Uddalaka Aruni]]
| known_for          = Ashtavakra - [[Vandin|Acharya Bandi]] Shastrarth
| occupation         = [[Professor]]<br>[[Philosopher]]
| alma_mater         = Uddalaka Aruni Ashram
[[Ancient Mithila University]]
| institute          = Uddalaka Aruni Ashram
}}

'''Ashtavakra''' ({{langx|sa|अष्टावक्रः|lit=eight deformities}}, {{IAST3|Aṣṭāvakraḥ}}) is a revered [[Vedas|Vedic]] sage in [[Hinduism]]. His maternal grandfather was the Vedic sage [[Aruni]], his parents were both Vedic students at Aruni's school. Ashtavakra studied, became a sage and a celebrated character of the Hindu [[Itihasa]] epics and [[Puranas]].<ref name="Dalal2010p43"/>

Ashtavakra is the author of the text ''[[Ashtavakra Gita|Aṣṭāvakra Gītā]]'', also known as ''Aṣṭāvakra Saṃhitā'', in Hindu traditions. The text is a treatise on [[Brahman]] and [[Ātman (Hinduism)|Ātman]].<ref name=lochtefeld66>{{cite book|author=James G. Lochtefeld|title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: A-M|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5kl0DYIjUPgC|year=2002|publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-8239-3179-8|page=66}}</ref>

==History==
Little is known about the life or century in which Ashtavakra actually lived, except for the accounts found in the major Indian Chronicle (the ''Ramayana'' and the ''Mahabharata'') and the Puranas. The legends state that sage [[Uddalaka|Aruni]], mentioned in the [[Chandogya Upanishad|Chāndogya Upaniṣad]], ran an ashram ([school]) teaching the [[Veda]]s. Kahoḍa was one of his students, along with Aruni's daughter Sujata. Aruni's daughter married Kahoḍa. She got pregnant, and during her pregnancy, the developing baby heard the chanting of the Vedas and learnt the correct recitation.<ref>{{cite book|title=India through the ages|url=https://archive.org/details/indiathroughages00mada|last=Gopal|first=Madan|year= 1990| pages= [https://archive.org/details/indiathroughages00mada/page/71 71–2]|editor=K.S. Gautam|publisher=Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India}}</ref> According to one version of the legends surrounding Ashtavakra, his father was once reciting the Vedas, but erred in correct intonation. The fetus spoke from the womb and told his father about the limited knowledge he was aware of from the Vedic books, there is much more to know apart from these books. The father got angry and cursed him to be born with eight deformities, hence the name 'Ashtavakra'.<ref name="Dalal2010p43">{{cite book|author=Roshen Dalal|title=Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DH0vmD8ghdMC|year=2010|publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-341421-6|page=43}}</ref>

His father, Kahoda, once went to ask for riches, to Janaka, the ancient king of [[Videha]], for his family was poor. He was, there, defeated in debates of science by [[Vandin]], and in consequence was drowned in water. Hearing of the drowning of her husband, Sujata kept it secret from her child. When Ashtavakra grew up, he learned everything about his curse and his father. Then he asked his mother to come with him to witness the great sacrifice of king Janaka. He was stopped from entering the king's sacrifice as only learned Brahamanas and Kings were allowed to enter, and he was just in his tenth year. With the proficiency of speaking, he had the king amazed with the knowledge he possessed; so, he was allowed to enter. There, he challenged the Vandin for controversy. After a heated debate, he defeated Vandin in knowledge by words. And asked the king, as Vandin used to cast Brahmanas into the water, let him meet with the same fate. Vandin then revealed that he is the son of Varun, and explained that the reason he drowned those Brahmins was a ritual that his father is performing for twelve years and needed a large number of Brahmins. By then, the ritual was done and thus all the Brahmins he drowned, including Ashtavakra's father Kahoda, were freed. Kahoda was very impressed with his son, Ashtavakra, and while going back home, asked him to take a dip in the river Samanga. As Ashtavakra came out of the river, it was seen all of his deformities had been cured.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Aṣṭāvakra|author2=Radhakamal Mukerjee|title=Aṣṭāvakragītā (the Song of the Self Supreme): The Classical Text of Ātmādvaita by Aṣṭāvakra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hL-0qeeuVVIC |year=1971|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-1367-0|pages=1–2}}</ref>

==Attributed texts==
{{Hinduism}}
Ashtavakra is credited as the author of the [[Ashtavakra Gita]] ({{IAST-hi1|Ashtavakra Gītā}}), which means "song of Ashtavakra". The text is also known as ''[[Ashtavakra Samhita|Ashtavakra Saṃhitā]]''.<ref name=stroud42>{{cite journal | last=Stroud | first=Scott R. | title=Narrative as Argument in Indian Philosophy: The Astavakra Gita as Multivalent Narrative | journal=Philosophy and Rhetoric | publisher=The Pennsylvania State University Press | volume=37 | issue=1 | year=2004 | pages=42–71 | doi=10.1353/par.2004.0011 | s2cid=144425928 }}, Quote: "Philosophical dialogues such as the Bhagavad Gita and the Astavakra Gita (also known as the Astavakra Samhita ) use a portrayed conversation involving a guru or deity to convey didactic lessons and values to the receptive audience, both ancient and modern."</ref> The ''Ashtavakra Gita'' examines the metaphysical nature of existence and the meaning of individual freedom, presenting its thesis that there is only one Supreme Reality (Brahman), the entirety of universe is oneness and manifestation of this reality, everything is interconnected, all Self ([[Atman (Hinduism)|Atman]], soul) are part of that one, and that individual freedom is not the end point but a given, a starting point, innate.<ref name=lochtefeld66/>

{{Quote|
<poem>
If you wish to be free, 
Know you are the Self, 
The witness of all these, 
The heart of awareness.
Set your body aside.
Sit in your own awareness.
You will at once be happy, 
Forever still, Forever free.
(...)
You are everywhere,
Forever free.
If you think you are free, You are free.
If you think you are bound, You are bound.
Meditate on the Self. 
One without two,
Exalted awareness.
</poem>
|''Ashtavakra Gita 1.4–14''|Translator: Thomas Byrom<ref>{{cite book|author=Thomas Byrom|title=The heart of awareness: a translation of the Ashtavakra Gita |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H9rtAAAAIAAJ |year=1990| publisher=Shambhala |isbn=978-0-87773-574-8|pages=7–9}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Aṣṭāvakra|author2=Hari Prasad Shastri (Transl)|title=Ashtavakra Gita|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F1IIAQAAIAAJ|year=1949|publisher=Shanti Sadan|pages=1–3|oclc= 768088461}}</ref>}}

According to American scholar [[Jessica Wilson]], the Sanskrit [[poetics]] in ''Ashtavakra Gita'' is not driven by critical [[syllogism]], but is rich in philosophical premises, spiritual effectiveness and its resonant narrative because of "textual indeterminacy between the audience's disposition and the foregrounded theme of [[individuation|non-individuation]] in the text. This tension... results in consistency building by the audience, which enables the transcendence of these two viewpoints (reader and text)".<ref name=stroud42/><ref>{{cite journal| author=Jessica Wilson| title=Narrative as Philosophy: Methodological Issues in Abstracting from Hebrew Scripture| year=2014| journal=Journal of Analytic Theology| volume=2| pages=276–277| url=http://journalofanalytictheology.com/jat/index.php/jat/article/viewFile/jat.2014-1.090400220813a/237| access-date=8 January 2017| archive-date=3 March 2015| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150303084822/http://journalofanalytictheology.com/jat/index.php/jat/article/viewFile/jat.2014-1.090400220813a/237| url-status=dead}}</ref>

According to [[Radhakamal Mukerjee]], the ''Ashtavakra Gita'' was likely composed after the ''[[Bhagavad Gita]]'' but before the start of the common era, and attributed to sage Ashtavakra out of reverence for his ideas.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Aṣṭāvakra|author2=Radhakamal Mukerjee|title=Aṣṭāvakragītā (the Song of the Self Supreme): The Classical Text of Ātmādvaita by Aṣṭāvakra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hL-0qeeuVVIC |year=1971|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-1367-0|pages=4–5}}</ref>

== Literature ==

===Ramayana===
Ashtavakra is referenced in verse 6.119.17 of [[Rāmāyaṇa#Yuddha Kanda|Yuddha Kāṇḍa]] in [[Valmiki|Vālmikī]]'s Rāmāyaṇa. When [[Dasharatha|Daśaratha]] comes to see [[Rāma]] from heaven after the war of the Rāmāyaṇa, he tells Rāma –<ref>{{Citation|title=Valmiki Ramayana – Book VI:Yuddha Kanda – Book Of War – Chapter 119|date=April 2020|url=http://www.valmikiramayan.net/yuddha/sarga119/yuddhaitrans119.htm|access-date=22 April 2020}}</ref>

<blockquote>
{{Cquote|  O son! I have been conveyed across (redeemed) by you, who are a deserving son and a great being; like the virtuous Brahmana Kahoḍa [was redeemed] by [his son] Aṣṭāvakra. ॥ 6.119.17 ॥}}
</blockquote>

In the ''Aranya Kanda'' of [[Adhyatma Ramayana]], the demon [[Kabandha]] narrates his story to Rama and Lakshmana, in which he says that he was a [[Gandharva]] earlier who was cursed by Ashtavakra to become a demon when he laughed on seeing him (Ashtavakra).<ref name="arkabandha">{{cite book | last=Munilal | title=अध्यात्मरामायण – हिन्दी अनुवादसहित |trans-title=Adhyatma Ramayana, with Hindi translation | language=sa, hi | isbn=978-81-293-0014-0 | year=2008 | publisher=[[Gita Press]] | location=Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India | page=136}}</ref> When the Gandharva then bowed down to Ashtavakra, Ashtavakra said that he would be released from the curse by Rama in [[Treta Yuga]].<ref name="arkabandha"/>

===Mahābhārata===
[[File:Ramabhadracharya Works - Painting in Ashtavakra (2010).jpg|thumb|right|300px|[[Janaka]] debating with Ashtavakra. Art from the epic [[Ashtavakra (epic)|Ashtavakra]] (2010).]]
In the [[Vana Parva]] of the [[Mahabharata|Mahābhārata]], the legend of Ashtavakra is described in greater detail. On losing the game of dice with the [[Kaurava]]s, the five [[Pandava|Pāṇḍava]] princes and [[Draupadi]] are exiled for twelve years. On their pilgrimage, they meet the sage Lomaśa, and he narrates to the Pāṇḍava princes the legend of Ashtavakra, over three chapters of [[Vana Parva]] of the Mahābhārata.<ref>{{Citation | last = Ganguli | first = Kisari Mohan | title = The Mahābhārata, Book 3: Vana Parva: Tirtha-yatra Parva:Section CXXXII-CXXIV | date = 26 February 2006 | url = http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m03/m03132.htm | access-date = 7 April 2011 }}</ref><ref name=vb>[[J. A. B. van Buitenen]] (Translator), The Mahabharata, Volume 2, 1981, {{ISBN|978-0226846644}}</ref> Ashtavakra's wisdom on various aspects of human existence is recited in the Mahābhārata. For example:
{{quote|text=
<poem>
A grey head does not make an elder,
Not by years, not by grey hairs, not by riches nor by relations did the seers make the Law,
He who is great to us, is one who has learning. 
</poem>
|sign=Ashtavakra|source=Vana Parva, [[Mahabharata]] Book iii<ref name=vb/>}}

===Puranas===
Ashtavakra and Śvetaketu made his way to [[Janaka]]'s palace. Ashtavakra first faced the gatekeeper who tried to keep the young boy out. On convincing the gatekeeper that he was well versed in the scriptures and hence old, he was let in. Then Janaka tested Ashtavakra with cryptic questions which Ashtavakra answered with ease. Janaka decided to let Ashtavakra face Vandin. Vandin and Ashtavakra began the debate, with Vandin starting. They alternately composed six extempore verses on the numbers one to twelve. Then Vandin could only compose the first half of a verse on the number thirteen. Ashtavakra completed the verse by composing the second half and thus won the argument against Vandin. This unique debate is full of enigmas and latent meanings which lie under the simple counts of the numbers one to thirteen.<ref>{{Citation | last = Ganguli | first = Kisari Mohan | title = The Mahābhārata, Book 3: Vana Parva: Tīrtha-yātrā Parva:Section CXXXIV | date = 26 February 2006 | url = http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m03/m03134.htm#fn_25 | access-date = 8 March 2011 | pages=Footnotes on pages 277–279}}</ref>

==In arts==
* Ashtavakra is one of the characters in the First Act of the Sanskrit play ''Uttara-Rāmacaritam'' composed by [[Bhavabhuti]] in the 8th century.
* The 571st volume of the [[Amar Chitra Katha]], first published in 1976, is titled ''Dhruva and Ashtavakra''.<ref>{{citation | year=1976 | title = Dhruva and Ashtavakra | editor1-first=Anant | editor1-last=Pai | first=Shailaja | last=Ganguly| editor1-link=Anant Pai | publisher=Amar Chitra Katha | isbn=8-18482-011-9 | volume=571}}</ref><ref>{{Citation | title = Dhruva and Ashtavakra (571) | url = http://www.amarchitrakatha.com/dhruva-and-ashtavakra-571 | access-date = 7 April 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120905011520/http://www.amarchitrakatha.com/dhruva-and-ashtavakra-571 | archive-date=September 5, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The second half of the volume presents the narrative of Ashtavakra. 
* A puppet play on Ashtavakra was staged by the Dhaatu Artist group in [[Ranga Shankara]] in [[Bangalore]] in 2010.<ref>{{Citation | agency = DHNS | work = [[Deccan Herald]] | title = Storytelling through puppet play | date = 12 March 2010 | url = http://www.deccanherald.com/content/57728/tv-talk.html | access-date = 7 April 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304040353/http://www.deccanherald.com/content/57728/tv-talk.html | archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* Ashtavakra Gita became very popular after Indian Spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar gave a commentary in [[Bangalore]] in 1991.

==See also==
*[[Agastya]]
*[[Ashtavakra Gita]]
*[[Ancient Mithila University]]
* [[Kubja|Trivakra]], a legendary hunchbacked woman, who was deformed at three places.

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*[https://archive.org/details/AshtavakraGitaEnglishAudioBook Ashtavakra Gita English Audio Book]
*[https://archive.org/details/AshtavakraGitaHindiAudiobook Ashtavakra Gita Hindi Audio Book]
*[https://archive.org/details/AshtavakraGita-MarathiAudiobook Ashtavakra Gita Marathi Audio Book]
* [http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m03/m03132.htm Ashtavakra Story in the Mahābhārata]
* [http://oshosearch.net/Convert/Articles_Osho/The_Mahageeta_Volume_1/Osho-The-Mahageeta-Volume-1-00000004.html Ashtavakra (in middle of text)]

{{Hindudharma}}
{{Rishis of Hindu mythology}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Rishis]]http://oshosearch.net/Convert/Articles_Osho/The_Mahageeta_Volume_1/Osho-The-Mahageeta-Volume-1-00000004.html
[[Category:Hindu poetry]]
[[Category:Sanskrit literature]]
[[Category:Hindu philosophers and theologians]]
[[Category: Ancient Indian philosophers]]
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