01The sixth Mandala
The family books of the Rigveda each belong to a line of rishis, and the sixth belongs to the Bharadvajas. Its hymns to Agni, Indra and Pushan, the guardian of roads and cattle, come from Bharadvaja and his descendants. The Taittiriya Brahmana tells that Bharadvaja lived three lifetimes in study, and when Indra asked what he would do with a fourth, he said he would study the Veda. Indra showed him three mountains of Veda and gave him a handful from each: the Vedas are endless.
02The ashram at Prayag
In the Ayodhya Kanda, Rama, Sita and Lakshmana reach Bharadvaja’s ashram near the confluence on their first days of exile, and he advises them to go on to Chitrakuta. When Bharata comes after them with the army of Ayodhya, Bharadvaja feeds the whole host with a feast called forth by his tapas. On the return from Lanka, Rama stops there again. A Bharadwaj Ashram stands in Prayagraj today. Dronacharya, guru of the Kuru princes, was his son.