Gargi- An Inspiration.

Vedas are a veritable store house of wisdom.Whenever our society got entangled in rituals and was led astray by godmen,we looked up to the Vedas for direction.We can very recall here the slogan given by Swami Dayanand-the founder of Arya Samaj-“Back To Vedas” It is in the Vedic times we find the mention of intelligent women of profound knowledge.The most famous among them are Ghosa,Lopamudra,Maitrye and Gargi.The stories of their scholarly endeavours are mentioned in the Upnisads.Upnisads form the last part of Vedas and are also referred to as Vedanta. Upnisad is formed by the fusion of the words upa+ni+sad where upa+ni means very close and sad means to sit. It was a practice in times of yore where teacher and the pupil sat together and the pupil raised queries and the teacher patiently satisfied his queries. Many a time the teacher imparted subtleties of knowledge by narrating stories. Among these stories we come across the story of GARGI-who had the courage and the depth of knowledge to challenge the best of the scholars of that time-YAJNAVALKYA.

2,800 years ago King Janak ruled Mithila. He was a great scholar himself and loved to delve in the nuances of metaphysics. He took immense pleasure in encouraging and honouring learned scholars of that time and for this he held debates in his palace. Many a times he would himself sit it in judgement to proclaim the best debator.One day he organised a yajna and invited learned scholars from far and wide. After the yajna was over,he made a strange announcement- he declared that any scholar who considered himself as the best would be entitled to the coveted prize of one thousand cows with gold studded on their horns.The whole congregation was dumbstruck as no one could muster the courage to stand up and claim the the prestigious prize.Then suddenly Yajnavalkya stood up and ordered his disciples to take away the cows.Hearing this there was a commotion among the brahmanas and the chief priest of king Janaka asked Yajnavalkya if he thought himself to be the best? Yajnavalkya said he had two reasons for his claim-one that no one claimed it and second that he was badly in need of the prize.He further explained that he was ready to satisfy the queries of all the scholars to justify his claim.

At first Priest Asvala initiated the debate and asked many intricate questions.He was followed by many other scholars to whose questions Yajnavalkya answered with great poise and humility.Then a brilliant lady stood up to quiz Yajnavalkya.She was beaming with rare radiance beauty and intelligence.She brought up questions on metaphysics in an interlinking manner.One answer led to another question.Everyone was surprised at the strange form of the questionaire and they marvelled at the intelligence of the querrant.The debate went on like this:-

Gargi-The world is woven on water,on what is water woven on?

Yajnavalkya-Water is woven on wind.

Gargi-On what is wind woven?

Yajnavalkya-Wind is woven on atmosphere-world.

Gargi-On what is atmosphere – world woven?

Yajnvalkya- Atmosphere-world woven on gandharvas.

Gargi-On what are gandharvas woven?

Yajnavalkya-Ganharvas are woven on the Sun.

Gargi-On what is Sun woven?

Yajnvalkya-Sun is woven on Moon.

Gargi-On what is Moon woven?

Yajnavalkya-Moon is woven on stars.

Gargi-On what are stars woven?

Yajnavalkya-Stars are woven on Gods.

Gargi-On what are Gods woven?

Yajnvalkya-Gods are woven on Indra?

Gargi-On what is Indra woven?

Yajnavalkya-Indra is woven on Prajapati.

Gargi-On what is Prajapati woven?

Yajnavalkya-Prajapati is woven on Brahman.

Gargi-On what are the worlds of Brahman woven?

At this Yajnnavalkya forbade Gargi to ask any more questions as the ultimate source of all is Brahman and this by its very nature is the causeless cause of everything.

Hearing this Gargi announced the superamacy of Yajnavalkya’s knowledge over all the scholars present there and also his claim over the prize.No doubt Yajnavalkya had a glorious victory,and even to-day we admire his academic brilliance.Along with this we also remember the brilliant Gargi whose form of query made this fact so easily understood by all.It has become a common heresay in Hindu traditions and even an illiterate person without any metaphysical depth can also understand it.

Gargi truly stands as an epitome of knowledge and courage and is an apt inspiration for the women of to-day.It is worth mentioning here that woman to-day have undoubtly done Gargi proud and is on her way to supremacy in all the fields along with her tender yet powerful role of a home –maker!

Forever In Gratitude To Her Divine Grace!

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