Yājñavalkya
Seers of the Veda · Ṛṣis and Ṛṣikās
The sage who gave back his teacher's Veda and received a new one from the Sun, won Janaka's thousand cows against every questioner, and taught his wife Maitreyī the way to immortality.
Yājñavalkya gave back to his angry teacher everything he had learned from him of the Veda, the ancient sacred knowledge of the brahmins, and received from the Sun a part of the Veda his teacher did not have. At King Janaka's great sacrifice he took the thousand cows meant for the brahmin who best knew Brahman, the one reality behind all things, and answered every questioner who came against him, Gārgī among them, until no one dared to ask more. He taught Janaka what the light of a man is when the sun and moon have set, and before he left his home to wander he taught his wife Maitreyī the one thing she asked for, the way to immortality.