Maitreyi

Maitreyi was a Vedic philosopher from ancient India. She was the second wife of famous sage and philosopher, Yajnavalkya, the first being Katyaayanee.^[1]

Maitreyi was well-versed in Vedas and associated scriptures and was called brahmavadini or "an expounder of the Veda" ^[2] by people of her time. About ten hymns in Rig Veda are accredited to Maitreyi.^[1]

According to legend, Maitreyi really did not want to marry Yajnavalkya, but she wanted to live with him as his disciple and a spiritual companion to do sadhana or spiritual development. She went to Yajnavalkya's wife, Katyaayanee and expressed her desire to live with her husband, and with Katyaayanee's consent, she became his companion.^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Vedic Women: Loving, Learned, Lucky!". http://hinduism.about.com/library/weekly/aa031601c.htm. Retrieved 2006-12-24. 
2. ^ The Sanskrit text brahmavadini is the female of brahmavadi. According to Monier-Williams’s Sanskrit-English Dictionary, "brahmavādín" means ‘discoursing on sacred texts, a defender or expounder of the Veda, one who asserts that all things are to be identified with Brahman’. It doesn't means "one who speaks like God".

External links

• The conversation of Yajnavalkya and Maitreyi on the absolute self
• Yajnavalkya and Maitreyi

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