Named ‘Krishna’ because of his dark complexion and ‘Dwaipayana’ because he was born on a Dweepa or Island, Veda Vyasa was born to Satyavati and Sage Parashara and he appeared as a full grown man upon birth.

Krishna Dwaipayana is called ‘Vyasa’ because he arranged or divided the Vedas into four. The word ‘Vyasa’ means ‘compiler’. The term ‘Vyasa’ does not just refer to Krishna Dwaipayana. In fact, Krishna Dwaipayana Veda Vyasa is the 28th Vyasa of the Vaivaswata Manvantara. The next Vyasa will be Drona-putra Ashwattama. The Vishnu Purana tells us that the Vedas are thus divided by a Veda-Vyasa in the Dwapara yugas of each Manvantara. The first Veda Vyasa of this Manvantara was Brahmadev himself.

According to the Devi Bhagawatham, Vyasa is despondent after his son Suka leaves his mortal form behind and merges with the elements. He wanders down to meet his birth mother Satyavati, hoping that she can comfort him. He reaches the fisherman settlement on the banks of the Yamuna that Satayvati belonged to, but here he finds out that she is now the Empress of Hastinapur.

Wending his way back to his ashram by the Saraswati, Vyasa spends his time in dhyana, an inner voice telling him that destiny has plans for him. Soon enough, he is summoned by Satyavati to sire children upon Vichitravirya’s widows so that the Kuru clan does not come to an end. And thus, Veda Vyasa himself becomes a key part of the great tale that is recounted in the Mahabharatha.
With this first blog post, we offer salutations to Bhagwan Veda Vyasa himself and embark on our journey into the depths of the great epic he gifted to the mortal world.