rishi
ऋषि ṛṣiA seer: one who, in the tradition, perceived the eternal Vedic sound rather than composing it.
Where this term appears
- What are the Vedas? Scriptures
The sages who stand behind the hymns, the rishis ( RISH-ees ), are described as seers, not as poets inventing verse: they perceived a sound that was already there, eternal, and gave it human voice.
- The Gayatri Mantra Worship
…ot, taken whole, a hymn to Savitr at all. The traditional index runs: rishi , Vishvamitra Gathina.
- What is a gotra? Essentials
The founding ancestors are not ordinary men but the rishis , the seers who, in the tradition, heard the Vedas in the deep past of the Vedic age.
- Shruti and Smriti: what counts as Hindu scripture? Scriptures
Ancient seers, the rishis , are said to have heard the eternal sounds in deep meditation and transmitted them onward.
- What is the Mahabharata? Scriptures
It reads Vyasa as a rishi (a seer) who composed what he had also caused and witnessed, which is part of what itihasa means.
- How the Vedas Were Preserved History
The tradition holds it to be apaurusheya , not of human authorship: eternal sound, existing before and beyond any person, which the ancient rishis did not invent but heard , and passed on.
- Rita: The Cosmic Order at the Root of Dharma Essentials
And it is also why the poet-seers, the rishis , held such a high place.
- Who is Saraswati? Deities
…son wise: "I make the man I love exceeding mighty, make him a sage, a Rishi, and a Brahman." This is the goddess of the sacred word, the power that makes sound carry meaning and meaning carry truth.