Book Title: Rushibhashit Sutra
Author(s): Vinaysagar, Sagarmal Jain, Kalanath Shastri, Dineshchandra Sharma
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy
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provides any information about Yajnavalkya. In the appendix to Rishibhashit it has been mentioned that he was a Pratyekbuddha contemporary of Arishtanemi. For detailed information about him we have to depend on sources other than Jain. Buddhist sources also do not provide detailed information about him.
In the Vedic works mention of Yajnavalkya is found in Shatpath Brahman, 133 Shankhayan Aranyak,134 Brihadaranyak Upanishad, 135 and Mahabharat136. There is the famous Yajnavalkya Smriti also in his name. The text available in Shankhayan Aranyak is almost same as that in Shatpath Brahman. Leaving aside Mahabharat and Yajnavalkya Smriti, Brihadaranyak Upanishad is the only Vedic work which provides detailed information about Yajnavalkya. On the basis of the story in Brihadaranyak Upanishad, Oldenberg, Waber and other scholars have deduced that he was a citizen of Videh because of his connection with Janak
However, Shri Suryakant, in Vedic Kosh, has expressed his doubts on his being a citizen of Videh, based on his connection with Uddalak of Kuruanchal. In my opinion his connection with Uddalak does not provide proper ground for doubting his citizenship of Videh because the Rishis keep traveling. Uddalak is also mentioned in Rishibhashit.
According to me, on the basis of the details from Brihadaranyak Upanishad, we may only infer that although during his early life he may have been a supporter of the Yajna tradition, in the end he shifted to the detachment oriented Shraman tradition due to the influence of Atmavad of Janak. In Brihadaranyak Upanishad he says that getting knowledge of Atma (soul) a Brahman abandons desires for son, wealth, and the world, and moves around taking alms. This is because the desire for son is same as the desire for wealth and the desire for wealth is same as the desire for the world.
On comparing these preachings from Brihaduranyak Upanishad with those of Yajnavalkya in Rishibhashit!37 we find astonishing similarity. In Rishibhashit he says that as long as the desire for the world is there, the desire for wealth also remains, and vice-versa. As such a mendicant should abandon both, the 170 şeyfus yang
