Maharishi Marichi

At a glance

• Name & meaning: Marichi (मरीचि) — "a ray of light". The word is used in Sanskrit for the rays of the sun and moon.
• Category: Saptarshi and Prajapati. He heads the Mahabharata's list of seven seers (Marichi, Atri, Angiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Vasishtha) and the Manusmriti's list of ten Prajapatis (1.35).
• Father: Brahma, as a mind-born son.
• Spouses: Kala, daughter of Kardama, in the Bhagavata Purana; Sambhuti, daughter of Daksha, in the Vishnu Purana.
• Children: Kashyapa, the father of gods, asuras and nagas; and Purnima (Paurnamasa in the Vishnu Purana).
• Lineage: Marichi's line is the Ikshvaku or solar dynasty, the family of Rama.
• In the sky: one of the seven stars of the Saptarshi (the Big Dipper). In the traditional identification he is the star at the end of the handle.
• Best known for: standing at the head of creation's family tree: almost every being in the Puranas descends from his son Kashyapa.

Birth and family background

The Puranas open creation with Brahma bringing forth sons from his own being to people the world. Marichi is named first among them. The Bhagavata Purana (3.12) says he was born from Brahma's mind, along with Atri from his eyes, Angiras from his mouth, Pulastya from his ears, Pulaha from his navel, Kratu from his hand and Vasishtha from his breath. As a mind-born son he has no mother.

The Bhagavata (4.1) marries him to Kala, one of the nine daughters of the sage Kardama and Devahuti, which makes him the brother-in-law of Kapila and of nearly every other great rishi. Kala bore him two sons, Kashyapa and Purnima. The Vishnu Purana gives a different marriage: Marichi's wife there is Sambhuti, a daughter of Daksha, and their son is Paurnamasa. Both accounts agree on the one son who matters most to everyone who came after him: Kashyapa.

Life and key episodes

The grandfather of the gods and the asuras

Marichi's importance comes almost entirely through his son. Kashyapa married many daughters of Daksha, and from those marriages came the Adityas (the gods, including Indra and Surya) by Aditi, the Daityas such as Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksha by Diti, the Danavas by Danu, the Nagas by Kadru, and Garuda and Aruna by Vinata. Gods and their rivals are therefore cousins, and Marichi is grandfather to both sides of nearly every Puranic war.

The first link in Rama's lineage

When King Janaka asks about the family of Rama before the wedding in the Bala Kanda of Valmiki's Ramayana, the sage Vasishtha recites the genealogy of the Ikshvakus. It begins: Brahma; from Brahma, Marichi; from Marichi, Kashyapa; from Kashyapa, Vivasvan (the Sun); from Vivasvan, Manu; from Manu, Ikshvaku. That is why the solar dynasty is also called the line of Marichi, and why Rama is, in the epic's own reckoning, Marichi's distant descendant.

A seer of dharma

The Narayaniya section of the Mahabharata's Shanti Parva tells of seven sages called the Chitrashikhandins — Marichi, Atri, Angiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu and Vasishtha — who composed a great treatise on dharma together. As the eldest of the seven, Marichi is always named first.

Achievements and contributions

• The head of creation's family tree: through Kashyapa, the gods, asuras, nagas and birds of the Puranas all descend from him.
• Ancestor of the solar dynasty: Ikshvaku, Dilipa, Raghu, Dasharatha and Rama all count him in their line.
• Saptarshi and Prajapati: he is one of the seven seers who, in Puranic belief, watch over the world in each age, and one of the progenitors charged with peopling it.

Marichi in the Bhagavad Gita

In the tenth chapter of the Gita, listing his own glories, Krishna says:

आदित्यानामहं विष्णुर्ज्योतिषां रविरंशुमान् ।
मरीचिर्मरुतामस्मि नक्षत्राणामहं शशी ॥ (10.21)

"Among the Adityas I am Vishnu; among lights, the radiant sun; among the Maruts I am Marichi; among the stars, the moon." The Marichi named here is the chief of the Maruts, the storm gods, and most commentators take him to be that Marut rather than the sage. The shared name, "ray of light", is part of why the verse is often recited in his memory.

Why he is revered today

Marichi is remembered in the daily rishi-tarpana, the offering of water to the seers that many brahmin families make, and in the Saptarshi worship of Rishi Panchami. Families of the Kashyapa gotra, one of the largest in India, count him as the ancestor of their gotra's founder. When the seven stars are pointed out in the northern sky, he is one of them.

Variant traditions and a historical note

The Puranas do not agree on his wife (Kala or Sambhuti) or on his second son's name (Purnima or Paurnamasa), and the Saptarshi lists of different ages and texts differ too. Some Puranas say that in each Manvantara a different group of seven serves as the Saptarshi, so the seven of the present age are not the same as those of the first. Marichi has no hymns of his own in the Rigveda; he belongs to the Puranic and epic picture of creation rather than to Vedic history.

Frequently asked questions

Who was Maharishi Marichi?

One of the mind-born sons of Brahma, the first of the Saptarshi in the Mahabharata's list, and the father of Kashyapa, from whom the gods, asuras and nagas descend.

Who was Marichi's wife?

The Bhagavata Purana names Kala, daughter of the sage Kardama and Devahuti. The Vishnu Purana names Sambhuti, a daughter of Daksha.

Who were Marichi's children?

His best-known son is Kashyapa. The Bhagavata names a second son, Purnima; the Vishnu Purana calls Sambhuti's son Paurnamasa.

Is Rishi Marichi the same as the demon Maricha of the Ramayana?

No. Maricha is the rakshasa who took the form of a golden deer to lure Rama away from Sita. Marichi is the Vedic sage, son of Brahma. The names are similar but they are entirely different figures.

How is Marichi related to Lord Rama?

He is Rama's distant ancestor. The Ramayana's genealogy runs Brahma, Marichi, Kashyapa, Vivasvan, Manu, Ikshvaku, and on through the Ikshvaku kings to Dasharatha and Rama.

Which star is Marichi in the Saptarshi?

In the traditional Indian identification of the Big Dipper's seven stars, Marichi is the star at the tip of the handle (the one astronomers call Alkaid).

Is the Marichi in Gita 10.21 the sage?

Krishna says he is Marichi "among the Maruts", so the verse names the chief of the storm gods. Most commentators treat that Marichi as a Marut, not as Brahma's son.