Maharishi Gautam was also the author of the ‘Gautama Dharma Sutra’, which covers almost every aspect of the Hindu Dharm. Hence, in this respect, Maharishi Gautam’s Dharm Shastra could well be regarded as the world’s oldest law book.

Image Source: Raja Ravi Verma

Maharishi Gautam is one of the Sapt-Rishis. He is credited with discovering the mantra drashta. Several suktas in the Rig Ved mention his name. Rahugana, a descendant of the Angiras, was the father of Maharishi Gautam. 

Maharishi Gautam was also the author of the ‘Gautama Dharma Sutra’, which is divided into twenty-eight chapters and contains around 1000 verses. Almost every aspect of Hindu dharma is covered, including the four Ashrams, the forty sanskars, the four varns, kingly duties, and punishments for various offences, funeral rights for the dead, golden rules of food intake, women’s dharms, and rules for property inheritance. In this respect, Maharishi Gautam’s Dharma Shastra could well be regarded as the world’s oldest law book.

Maharishi Gautam being the progenitor of the Gautam gotra, Bharadwaj and Gautam have a same ancestor and that they’re all descended from Angiras hence; they are sometimes clubbed together under the name Angiras. According to the Devi Bhagavatam, the river Godavari was named so because of her association to Maharishi Gautama.

Maharishi Gautam was a devotee of Bhagwan Shiv.  He performed rigorous penance to please Bhawgan Shiv and one day, Bhawgan Shiv got so pleased that he blessed him and said that all his wishes would be granted. Maharishi Gautam gladly accepted the proposal. Maharishi Gautam used to sit and meditate every day. He discovered one day, through his intuitions, that Mudgal’s daughter, Ahliya, was getting married. Every man wished to marry her because she was stunning. Many Devtas, including Indra, were also interested in marrying her. Many of these deities began to compete over her, which displeased Ahliya’s father because they had lustful intentions about her.

Ahilya’s father urged Brahmaji to counsel the Devtas and find a solution. Brahmaji acknowledged his request and proposed the Devtas that, they conduct a ‘Swayamvar’ for Ahilya, with the condition that the person who could circle around the entire earth in the shortest time, would be chosen to marry Ahilya. Despite their discontent with the condition, all of them accepted the challenge. When Maharishi Gautam learned of Ahilya’s swayamvar’s condition, he prayed to Bhagwan Shiv to help him win the challenge. Bhagwan Shiv advised him to circle around the Shivling, as it meant the same as circling around the earth.

Maharishi Gautam was the first to arrive hence; Brahmaji was delighted, and he decided to marry Maharishi Gautam with Ahilya. The Devtas were enraged and envious of Maharishi Gautam when they heard this. Maharishi Gautam took Ahliya to his Ashram situated on the bank of river Ganga, where he continued his meditation ritual. On the other hand, many years later, Indra was still absorbed in lusty thoughts about Ahliya. Once, Indra decided to visit Maharishi Gautam’s abode and win over Ahilya, in Maharishi Gautam’s absence.

Maharishi Gautam always worried about Ahilya hence; he had asked their daughter Anjani to sit outside and guard the ashram. Indra took the form of a cat to dodge Anjani’s attention and entered the house. As soon as he entered the house, he took the form of Maharishi Gautam and got intimate with Ahilya. Meanwhile, Maharishi Gautam felt something amiss and rushed to his ashram and found that Indra was disguised as him and making love to Ahilya. Maharishi Gautam got enraged beyond point and cursed Indra to get ‘Sahasra yoni (one thousand Female Genitals) on his body and cursed Ahilya to turn into a stone for betraying him, even though Ahilya was innocent and could not realise it was Indra and not her husband.

Later on, Maharishi Gautam felt pity on both of them and transformed their curses by turning Indra’s Sahasra yoni to Sahasra Aksh (One thousand eyes) and told Ahilya that when Bhagwan Ram touches her with His feet, she would transform into the original form.