आग्निवेश्यात् आग्निवेश्यः शाण्डिल्याच् च अनभिम्लाताच् च आनभिम्लातः आनभिम्लातात् आनभिम्लातः आनभिम्लातात् आनभिम्लातः गौतमात् गौतमः सैतवप्राचीनयोग्याभ्याम् सैतवप्राचीनयोग्यौ पाराशर्यात् पाराशर्यः भारद्वाजात् भारद्वाजः भारद्वाजाच् च गौतमाच् च गौतमः भारद्वाजात् भारद्वाजः पाराशर्यात् पाराशर्यः वैजवापायनात् वैजवापायनः कौशिकायनेः कौशिकायनिः
āgniveśyāt āgniveśyaḥ śāṇḍilyāc ca anabhimlātāc ca ānabhimlātaḥ ānabhimlātāt ānabhimlātaḥ ānabhimlātāt ānabhimlātaḥ gautamāt gautamaḥ saitavaprācīnayogyābhyām saitavaprācīnayogyau pārāśaryāt pārāśaryaḥ bhāradvājāt bhāradvājaḥ bhāradvājāc ca gautamāc ca gautamaḥ bhāradvājāt bhāradvājaḥ pārāśaryāt pārāśaryaḥ vaijavāpāyanāt vaijavāpāyanaḥ kauśikāyaneḥ kauśikāyaniḥ
— from Āgniveśya, Āgniveśya from Śāṇḍilya and Ānabhimlāta, Ānabhimlāta from Ānabhimlāta, he from Ānabhimlāta, he from Gautama, Gautama from Saitava and Prācīnayogya, they from Pārāśarya, Pārāśarya from Bhāradvāja, Bhāradvāja from Bhāradvāja and Gautama, Gautama from Bhāradvāja, Bhāradvāja from Pārāśarya, Pārāśarya from Vaijavāpāyana, Vaijavāpāyana from Kauśikāyani, Kauśikāyani —
c5337fe9d9b1 · published Jul 27, 2026, 12:58:45 AM UTC
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The vine goes on: dozens of names, some repeating — Ānabhimlāta from Ānabhimlāta, Bhāradvāja from Bhāradvāja: a son from a father, a namesake from a namesake; the knowledge travelled both by blood lines and by school lines. Not a single link is skipped — exactness matters more than brevity.
There is a music of its own in this monotony: like the knocking of the wheels of a long-distance train, the list lets one hear the length of the road by which the truth came to us. How many times it might have broken off — through war, through forgetting, through a slack pupil! Every "from so-and-so" is a bridge over a possible abyss.