Bhrigu

Also Known As: Sanskrit Bhrigu, from a root meaning “to shine”; his descendants are the Bhargavas, “those of Bhrigu”
Region/Culture: South Asia
Mythos: Hindu Mythology
Primary Type/Nature: Heroes and Mortals
Mythical Attributes: Bhrigu is one of the great sages of Hindu tradition, a son of the creator Brahma whose curse can bind a god and whose family first received fire.
Role in Mythos: He is the founder of the Bhargava line of priests and the sage who tested Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu to learn which of them was greatest.
Relation to Humans: The oldest hymns say his family was given fire and set it up among people. Later tradition names him as the father of a priestly clan and credits him with a great book of horoscopes.

Vishnu is asleep. He lies in his own heaven with his head in the lap of the goddess Lakshmi, and the air is still. A thin old man walks in without a greeting, looks down at the sleeping god, and kicks him in the chest.

The old man is Bhrigu, and he is running a test. The story is told in the Bhagavata Purana. A gathering of sages on the bank of the river Sarasvati had fallen to arguing over which of the three great gods was the highest, and they sent Bhrigu to find out. He went first to Brahma, his own father, and stood in his court without bowing. Brahma’s face darkened, but he mastered himself. Bhrigu went next to Shiva on Mount Kailasa. Shiva got up gladly to embrace him, and Bhrigu stepped back and called him a breaker of rules. Shiva’s eyes burned and he lifted his trident, and only his wife’s pleading stopped the blow. Then Bhrigu went to Vishnu and used his foot.

Vishnu woke, stood up with Lakshmi beside him, and welcomed his visitor. He offered him a seat. He said he was sorry not to have noticed him arrive, and he worried aloud that the sage’s soft foot might have been hurt against his chest. Bhrigu went back to the riverbank unable to speak at first, and then told the others what had happened. The sages had their answer. The greatest god was the one who could take a kick.

It takes a certain kind of man to be sent on that errand, and Bhrigu had been that man for a very long time. In the Rigveda, the oldest layer of the tradition, the name is mostly plural. The Bhrigus are an ancient family of fire priests. The hymns say that a being called Matarishvan brought the hidden fire from far away and gave it to them, and that the Bhrigus set it up among people, the way a friend is settled in a house. The name itself comes from a root meaning to shine. Before he was a person with a temper, Bhrigu was a family standing around the first flame.

The later books make him one man and give him a birth. He is one of the sons born from the mind of Brahma, one of the fathers of living things, and often one of the seven great sages. One account says he came from Brahma’s heart. The Mahabharata says he was born from the fire at a sacrifice held by the god Varuna, and the Taittiriya Upanishad calls him Bhrigu Varuni, son of Varuna. In that text he is a student. He asks his father what the ground of all things is, and his father sends him away to think. He comes back with an answer, is sent away again, and comes back again. Food, then breath, then mind, then understanding, and at last joy. He works it out step by step, and the teaching is still called by his name.

His household is large and famous. By his wife Khyati he has the sons Dhata and Vidhata, and some tellings add a daughter, the goddess Lakshmi herself, who is called Bhargavi after him. His son Shukra becomes the teacher of the demons. By his wife Puloma he has the sage Chyavana. Further down the line come Jamadagni and the axe-carrying Parashurama. The whole clan is called Bhargava, and it is known for learning and for a short fuse.

The best story of that fuse is in the opening book of the Mahabharata. Bhrigu goes down to the river to bathe and leaves Puloma at home, heavy with child, the household fire burning low in its pit and the smell of butter and woodsmoke in the room. A rakshasa comes to the door. He had once been promised this woman, before her father gave her to Bhrigu, and he has not forgotten. He turns to the fire and asks it to say whose wife she really is. Agni, the fire, is afraid of lying and afraid of Bhrigu. He tells the truth: she is the sage’s wife, married with the proper rites, though the rakshasa spoke for her first. The rakshasa takes that as enough, turns himself into a boar and runs off with her.

The child in her womb is so angry that he drops out of it. He is Chyavana, “the fallen one”, and he shines like the sun. The rakshasa looks at him and falls to ash. Puloma walks home carrying the baby, crying so hard that her tears run behind her as a river. Bhrigu hears the story and asks one question: who told the rakshasa who she was? When he learns it was Agni, he curses him. “You shall eat everything.”

It is a hard sentence for the god who carries offerings to heaven, and Agni says so. He had only told the truth. He withdraws from every altar in the world, the rites stop, and the gods go hungry. Brahma has to settle it. The curse cannot be undone, he rules, but it can be turned: fire will indeed eat everything, and whatever it eats will be made clean.

That is the size of Bhrigu’s power. He has no weapon and no army. He has the stored heat of a lifetime of discipline, and when he speaks in anger the words hold, even on a god. At the great sacrifice of Daksha he cursed the followers of Shiva to their faces. Another story says he cursed Vishnu to be born on earth again and again, because Vishnu had killed his wife. Later tradition also made him the first astrologer and put his name on a vast collection of horoscopes, the Bhrigu Samhita.

His limits are just as plain. A curse, once out, belongs to the world and not to him, and Brahma can bend what Bhrigu cannot take back. He is also a man with an ordinary body. When Shiva’s warrior Virabhadra broke into Daksha’s sacrifice, Bhrigu was standing at the fire with the offering ladle in his hand. He was seized and held, and Virabhadra tore out his moustache, the same moustache he had shown in a laugh when Shiva was insulted. Nobody asked the sage to judge anything that day.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Bhrigu in Hindu mythology?

Bhrigu is one of the great sages of Hindu mythology and a son of the creator god Brahma. He is the founder of the Bhargava family of priests, which includes Shukra, Chyavana and Parashurama. Bhrigu is best known for testing Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu and for his curse on the fire god Agni.

Why did Bhrigu kick Vishnu?

Bhrigu kicked Vishnu on the chest to test his patience. A group of sages had sent Bhrigu to find out which of the three great gods was the highest. Brahma and Shiva both grew angry when Bhrigu was rude to them, but Vishnu welcomed Bhrigu and offered him a seat, so the sages judged Vishnu the greatest.

Why did Bhrigu curse Agni?

Bhrigu cursed Agni because Agni told a rakshasa that Puloma was Bhrigu’s wife, and the rakshasa then carried her off. Bhrigu’s curse was that Agni would eat everything. Brahma later turned the curse so that whatever fire eats is made clean.

Who are the children of Bhrigu?

Bhrigu’s sons include Shukra, the teacher of the demons, and Chyavana, who was born when the rakshasa carried off his mother Puloma. By his wife Khyati, Bhrigu had the sons Dhata and Vidhata, and some tellings make the goddess Lakshmi his daughter under the name Bhargavi. Jamadagni and Parashurama are later members of Bhrigu’s line.

What is Bhrigu’s connection with fire?

In the Rigveda the Bhrigus are an ancient family of fire priests. The hymns say that Matarishvan brought fire from far away and gave it to the Bhrigus, who set it up among people. The name Bhrigu comes from a root meaning “to shine”.