PIPLAD

Piplad was an ancient Indian Vedic sage and philosopher in Hindu tradition. He is known to have written the Prashna Upanishad, which is among the ten Mukhya Upanishads. He was the son of noble benevolent sage Dadhichi, who donated his bones to the devtas to provide them a material for making weapons and defeat the Asurs. He was the founder of Pippalad School of thought, which taught the Atharv ved.

Birth :

At the time his father Dadhichi gave up his life to donate his bones to [Indra] and help him defeat the asur Vritra, his wife Swarch was pregnant with Piplad. When Swarcha came to know about death of her husband, she placed the infant Pippalad under a pippal tree. Then she committed suicide to reunite with her husband. The infant Piplad was taken care of by Dadhichi's sister, Dadhimati. He helped himself to the pippal leaves and amrit (nectar) given by Chandra dev (God of moon).

Revenge with Indra :

When Piplad grew up and came to know about the way his parents died, he performed a heavy penance to Lord Shiv and obtained a demon to kill all the devta's. All the devta's went to Shiv for protection. Shiv made Piplad realize that nothing can be gained by killing the devta's as it will not bring his parents back.

Defeating Shani :

Pippalad defeated Shani. Shani to save his life promised that he will never trouble anyone below 16 years of age.

Prashna Upanishad :

The following six sages: Kabandhin Katyayan, Bhargav Vaidarbhi, Kausalya Asvalayan, Sauryayanin Gargya, Saibya Satyakama and Sukesan Bharadvaj approached Piplad asking him about purpose of life. They performed austerities for a year and asked six questions. These questions and answers later came to be known as the Prashna Upanishad.