In Vedic culture, Guru-Shishya Parampara represents the unbroken Line of Teachers going back to the beginning. The following is a Lineage of Teachers from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad found in the Shatapatha Brahamana of the Shukla Yajur Veda. This post will cover the first of the four Lineages given in the Upanishad.

Learning is passed from the Guru (teacher) to the Shishya (pupil). A pupil’s education typically starts with the student coming to live with the Guru at the Gurukula or the Guru’s family. This would be at an early age. At the Gurukula the student would learn the Vedic tradition including history, philosophy and religion, logic and ethics. At the end of the student’s education, they would give the Guru a dakshina (gift) for the teaching they have received and return back to the world to start their family life.

The Gotra system is another form of Vedic lineage which represents unbroken patrilineal descent within a family. So descendants from a common ancestor would be a part of the same Gotra or blood line. Tradition records Brahmin names by their Gotra, the patronymic of their ancestor. As an example many famous Bhargava munis are simply called Bhargava, those who descend from Bhrigu Muni.

Typically in a Gurukula students from all Gotras and all walks of life would study together regardless of their relationship to their Guru or to each other. So in a Line of Teachers we have many Gotras. We get entries in the Lineage like Pautimashya being taught by Gopavan and Gopavan himself was taught by Pautimashya. The second Pautimashya is a different individual but of the same Gotra.

This Lineage of teachers numbers about 58 generations of Teachers at the time of writing of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, beginning with Brahman and ending with the author of this section of the Upanishad.

पौतिमाष्यो गौपवनात् गौपवनः पौतिमाष्यात् पौतिमाष्यो गौपवनात् गौपवनः कौशिकात् कौशिकः कौण्डिन्यात् कौण्डिन्यः शाण्डिल्यात् शाण्डिल्यः कौशिकाच्च गौतमाच्च गौतमः आग्निवेश्यात् आग्निवेश्यः शाण्डिल्याच्चानभिम्लाताच्च आनभिम्लात आनभिम्लातात् आनभिम्लात आनभिम्लातात् आनभिम्लातो गौतमात् गौतमः सैतवप्राचीनयोग्याभ्याम् सैतवप्राचीनयोग्यौ पाराशर्यात् पाराशर्यो भारद्वाजात् भारद्वाजो भारद्वाजाच्च गौतमाच्च गौतमो भारद्वाजात् भारद्वाजः पाराशर्यात् पाराशर्यो बैजवापायनात् बैजवापायनः कौशिकायनेः कौशिकायनिः घृतकौशिकात् घृतकौशिकः पाराशर्यायणात् पाराशर्यायणः पाराशर्यात् पाराशर्यो जातूकर्ण्यात् जातूकर्ण्य आसुरायणाच्च यास्काच्च आसुरायणस्त्रैवणेः त्रैवणिरोपजन्धनेः औपजन्धनिरासुरेः आसुरिर्भारद्वाजात् भारद्वाज आत्रेयात् आत्रेयो माण्टेः माण्टिर्गौतमात् गौतमो गौतमात् गौतमो वात्स्यात् वात्स्यः शाण्डिल्यात् शाण्डिल्यः कैशोर्यात्काप्यात् कैशोर्यः काप्यः कुमारहारितात् कुमारहारितो गालवात् गालवो विदर्भीकौण्डिन्यात् विदर्भीकौण्डिन्यो वत्सनपातो बाभ्रवात् वत्सनपाद्बाभ्रवः पथः सौभरात् पन्थाः सौभरोऽयास्यादाङ्गिरसात् अयास्य आङ्गिरस आभूतेस्त्वाष्ट्रात् आभूतिस्त्वाष्ट्रो विश्वरूपात्त्वाष्ट्रात् विश्वरूपस्त्वाष्ट्रोऽश्विभ्याम् अश्विनौ दधीच आथर्वणात् दभ्यङ्ङाथर्वणोऽथर्वणो दैवात् अथर्वा दैवो मृत्योः प्राध्वंसनात् मृत्युः प्राध्वंसनः प्रध्वंसनात् प्रध्वंसन एकर्षेः एकर्षिविप्रचित्तेः विप्रचित्तिर्व्यष्टे व्यष्टिः सनारोः सनारुः सनातनात् सनातनः सनगात् सनगः परमेष्ठिनः परमेष्ठी ब्रह्मणः ब्रह्म स्वयंभु ब्रह्मणे नमः

pautimāṣyo gaupavanāt gaupavanaḥ pautimāṣyāt pautimāṣyo gaupavanāt gaupavanaḥ kauśikāt kauśikaḥ kauṇḍinyāt kauṇḍinyaḥ śāṇḍilyāt śāṇḍilyaḥ kauśikācca gautamācca gautamaḥ āgniveśyāt āgniveśyaḥ śāṇḍilyāccānabhimlātācca ānabhimlāta ānabhimlātāt ānabhimlāta ānabhimlātāt ānabhimlāto gautamāt gautamaḥ saitavaprācīnayogyābhyām saitavaprācīnayogyau pārāśaryāt pārāśaryo bhāradvājāt bhāradvājo bhāradvājācca gautamācca gautamo bhāradvājāt bhāradvājaḥ pārāśaryāt pārāśaryo baijavāpāyanāt baijavāpāyanaḥ kauśikāyaneḥ kauśikāyaniḥ ghṛtakauśikāt ghṛtakauśikaḥ pārāśaryāyaṇāt pārāśaryāyaṇaḥ pārāśaryāt pārāśaryo jātūkarṇyāt jātūkarṇya āsurāyaṇācca yāskācca āsurāyaṇastraivaṇeḥ traivaṇiropajandhaneḥ aupajandhanirāsureḥ āsurirbhāradvājāt bhāradvāja ātreyāt ātreyo māṇṭeḥ māṇṭirgautamāt gautamo gautamāt gautamo vātsyāt vātsyaḥ śāṇḍilyāt śāṇḍilyaḥ kaiśoryātkāpyāt kaiśoryaḥ kāpyaḥ kumārahāritāt kumārahārito gālavāt gālavo vidarbhīkauṇḍinyāt vidarbhīkauṇḍinyo vatsanapāto bābhravāt vatsanapādbābhravaḥ pathaḥ saubharāt panthāḥ saubharo'yāsyādāṅgirasāt ayāsya āṅgirasa ābhūtestvāṣṭrāt ābhūtistvāṣṭro viśvarūpāttvāṣṭrāt viśvarūpastvāṣṭro'śvibhyām aśvinau dadhīca ātharvaṇāt dabhyaṅṅātharvaṇo'tharvaṇo daivāt atharvā daivo mṛtyoḥ prādhvaṃsanāt mṛtyuḥ prādhvaṃsanaḥ pradhvaṃsanāt pradhvaṃsana ekarṣeḥ ekarṣivipracitteḥ vipracittirvyaṣṭe vyaṣṭiḥ sanāroḥ sanāruḥ sanātanāt sanātanaḥ sanagāt sanagaḥ parameṣṭhinaḥ parameṣṭhī brahmaṇaḥ brahma svayaṃbhu brahmaṇe namaḥ

One of the objectives of this research is to produce this list in a machine readable form that can be included in a knowledge graph or made available for future analysis leveraging machine learning and AI. Please find the Lineage in Excel, json and xml formats below. These files are licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0 License.

Download “Line of Teachers” as a file: (Excel) (csv) (json) (XML)

References:

• THE BRIHADARANYAKA UPANISAD WITH THE COMMENTRY OF SANKARACHARYA (Translated by SWAMI MADHAVANANDA)
• Gurukul on Wikipedia