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Vāmadeva

Vāmadeva

c. 1350 BCE · Kurukshetra

Legendary Vedic seer; no historical dates. The conventional placement ties him to the Rigvedic family books, the fourth maṇḍala being traditionally ascribed to his lineage. The figure is mythic and the year is a stratum-based convention.

Vāmadeva (traditionally Vāmadeva Gautama) is a legendary seer to whom the fourth book (Maṇḍala) of the Rigveda is traditionally ascribed, including a hymn (RV 4.26) whose opening verse expresses a striking claim of mystic identity — "I was Manu, I was the Sun" — later quoted in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad (1.4.10) as an early expression of the self's unity with the cosmic principle. He is also remembered as a family priest of the Ikṣvāku line in some traditions, named alongside Vasiṣṭha among King Daśaratha's priests in the Rāmāyaṇa. He is known through scripture and legend rather than historical record.

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Stop 1 of 1Traditional Association

Kurukshetra

We know they were here, but the specifics of what they did at this stop aren’t recorded yet in our corpus.

In Kurukshetra at the same time

Viśvavārā, Romaśā, Ghoṣā

See other sages who lived in Kurukshetra

In the same place & time

Sages whose lives overlapped with Vāmadeva’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.

In the same tradition

Viśvavārā, Romaśā, Ghoṣā

The world in their lifetime

Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Vāmadeva’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.

Works

No works attributed in the corpus yet.