Rishi Dadhichi

Dadhichi, also written Dadhyanch or Dadhicha, is the sage who gave up his body so that the gods could make the thunderbolt that killed Vritra. He is already in the Rigveda as Dadhyanch Atharvana, "Dadhyanch, son of Atharvan". The Rigveda says Indra killed the Vritras with Dadhyanch's bones [RV 1.84.13]. It also says the Ashvins gave Dadhyanch a horse's head, and with it he told them the madhu, the "honey", a secret teaching [RV 1.116.12, 1.117.22]. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad quotes the second verse in its Madhu Brahmana [2.5.17]. The epics and Puranas tell the first story as the making of the Vajra from his bones.

The texts do not agree on his parents. The Bhagavata Purana names Atharvan's wife Chitti, a daughter of Kardama, and the verse is usually read as giving their son as Ashvashira, the "horse-headed" Dadhyanch [Bhagavata Purana 4.1.42]. The Linga Purana calls him a son of Chyavana, of the Bhargava line [Linga Purana 1.35]. The Mundaka Upanishad makes Atharvan Brahma's eldest son, who passes the knowledge of Brahman on to Angir [Mundaka Upanishad 1.1.1-2]. No text gives a single settled line.

The Dadhich (also Dadheech) Brahmans of Rajasthan trace their name and descent to him. The scholar Lawrence Babb notes that their origin story was written down only in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century.

1. The bones for the Vajra: Vritra and the Kalakeya Danavas oppressed the gods. Brahma told them to ask Dadhicha for his bones. Dadhicha said he would give up his body himself, and Tvashtri forged the bones into the Vajra [Mahabharata, Vana Parva, section 100 in Ganguli]. In the Bhagavata Purana Vishnu tells Indra to ask the sage for his body, and Vishvakarma makes the weapon from his bones [Bhagavata Purana 6.9.51-54, 6.10].
2. The horse's head: The Ashvins asked Dadhyanch to teach them and he taught through a horse's head, so the teaching is called Ashvashira [Bhagavata Purana 6.9.52]. A commentary adds that Indra had threatened to cut off his head if he taught the Ashvins, and the Ashvins fitted the horse's head so that the blow would fall on it.
3. The son Sarasvata: Dadhicha's seed fell into the river Sarasvati, which carried the child to him, and the boy was named Sarasvata. In a twelve-year drought Sarasvata stayed by the river and later taught the Vedas to the sages who had forgotten them [Mahabharata, Shalya Parva, section 51].
4. The dispute with Kshupa: King Kshupa, Dadhicha's friend, said a king is greater than a Brahmin. Dadhicha struck him with his fist, Kshupa struck back with his thunderbolt, and Dadhicha fell. A sage of the Bhargava line restored him and taught him a mantra to Shiva. Through penance his bones became unbreakable [Linga Purana 1.35].
5. The son Pippalada: The Shiva Purana calls Pippalada the son of Dadhichi and an incarnation of Shiva [Shiva Purana, Shatarudra Samhita 24-25].

• The banks of the Sarasvati, where his austerities and the birth of Sarasvata are set in the Mahabharata
• The gathering of the gods that came to ask for his bones