Rishi Yajnavalkya

Yajnavalkya, son of Vajasani (hence called Vajasaneya), was a pupil of Vaishampayana in the Krishna Yajurveda school. The Puranas tell that after a quarrel with his teacher he gave back all he had learned, and then received fresh Yajurveda verses from the Sun, which became the Shukla (White) Yajurveda, the Vajasaneyi Samhita. He is the central teacher of the Shatapatha Brahmana and the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.

1. Receiving the Shukla Yajurveda: the Sun, in the form of a horse (vaji), taught him the new Yajus, giving the Vajasaneyi name
2. The debate at King Janaka's court: he won the thousand cows Janaka offered to the wisest, answering Ashvala, Artabhaga, Gargi Vachaknavi, Uddalaka Aruni and others (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Book 3)
3. Teaching Maitreyi: before renouncing the world he divided his property between his two wives, Katyayani and Maitreyi; Maitreyi asked instead for the knowledge of immortality, and his teaching to her, "it is for the love of the Self that all is dear", is one of the best-known passages of the Upanishads
4. Yajnavalkya Smriti: a major Dharmashastra, the basis of the Mitakshara law commentary, is attributed to him

• The court of King Janaka of Videha, with assembled sages
• A forest hermitage at sunrise