Sage Marichi is famously known as one of the Saptarishi. Saptarishi means Seven Sages. It is a dvigu which means when two words are joined to make a word holding a very significant and unique meaning. Saptarishi are the ones who are known to maintain and monitor the balance in the world. They are said to be immortal and are spoken about on various occasions in the Hindu and Vedic literature. Sage Marichi is the founder and originator of Vedanta. He is also considered as one of the reincarnations of Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara of Jainism.
Marichi word comes from the Sanskrit language and means a “ray of light”. His name is spelt as Mareechi or Marishi as well. He, like many other sages, is also considered to be a mind-born son of Lord Brahma. Kashyapa is his son and that makes him the grandfather of Devas and Asuras.
Coming back to discussing the mention of sage Marichi as Saptarishi, a few of the earlier texts fail to count him in the seven sages. But texts that came later, especially in the times of Mahabharata, considered him as one of the seven important sages. Vedic Samhitas do not mention these sages by their name but texts like Brahmanas and Upanishads have mentioned their names while talking about them.
Sage Marichi had followed the path of his duties and responsibilities by going away from all the pleasures that the world had to offer. Marichi’s origin story comes from him being a Prajapati. Now let us understand what a Prajapati is and how they came into being. Lord Brahma who is considered as the god of all creations started feeling the need for few people who could be given the responsibility of creating the rest of the universe. He created ten Prajapati which meant rulers of the people. They were known as his mind-born sons or Manas Putra.
Marichi was married to Kala who gave birth to Kashyapa. An interesting fact is that Kashyapa is sometimes considered to be a Prajapati himself on the account of inheriting the right of creation from Marichi, his father. Marichi is believed to have visited and met with Bhishma along with Narada when Bhishma was lying on the beds made of arrows. He is known to have experienced the energy of Lord Vishnu and officiated the Tapasya of Lord Brahma at Pushkar. Sage Marichi is known as the advisor and guide of Dhruva when he wanted to follow austerities. Many scriptures like the Vedas and Brahmanda Purana have mentioned Marichi.
As we have mentioned earlier, some people believe for Marichi to be reincarnated as the 24th Tirthankara Mahavira of Jainism. Marichi, in those scriptures, is said to be the son of Bharata Chakravartin. After many births, he was born as a Tirthankara. Marichi goes on to become a Jain monk and follows Rishabh Natha, the first Tirthankara. He was however unable to follow the strict rules of Digambara penance. Hence, he took the robe, pedals and umbrella and invented his own religion. Kapila was his very first disciple.
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