| SHAUNAK Shaunak is the name applied to teachers, and to a Shakha of the Atharv Ved. It is especially the name of a celebrated Sanskrit grammarian, author of the Rig Ved-Pratisakhya, the Brhaddevat, the Caran-vyuh and six Anukramanis (indices) to the Rig Ved. He is claimed as the teacher of Katyayana and especially of Ashvalayana, and is said to have united the Bashkal and Shakal Shakhas of the Rigved. In legend, he is sometimes identified with Gritsamad, a Vedic Rishi.
Gritsamad is a rishi, credited with most of Mandala 2 of the Rigved (36 out of 43, hymns 27-29 being attributed to his son Kurma and 4-7 to Somahuti). Grtsamad was a son of Shunahotra of the family of Angiras, but by Indra's will he was transferred to the Bhrigu family.
In the plural, the name refers to the clan of Grtsamad, so used in RV 2.4, 19, 39, 41.
According to the Vishnu Puran, Shaunak was the son of Gritsamad, and invented the system of the four levels of human life. Suta mahaamuni narrated mythological stories to a group of sages headed by Shaunak mahaamuni.
Rigved-Pratisakhya is attributed to Shaunak who taught it to others in a satra-yagna (a 12-day very large scale collective yagna) held in Naimisharanya according to Vishnumitra of Champa town, the commentator of Uvata's commentary of Rigved-Pratisakhya.
Shaunak had a prominent role in the epic Mahabharat. The epic Mahabharat was narrated to Shaunak by a story teller named Ugrasrav Sauti during a conclave of sages headed by Shaunak in a forest named Naimisharanya.
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