Gautama

Gauthama, one of the saptharishis, finds reference both in the Thretha and the Dwapara yugas, in the Ramayana and the Mahabharatha. He had attained a lot of powers through severe tapas However, he lost them when he cursed two people at the same time. These two were Devendra and his own wife, Ahalya; Devendra had impersonated  the sage and forced Ahalya (Gowthama's wife) to go astray. In the Ramayana, we are told how Sri Rama came to Gowthama's ashram and how Ahalya was freed from her husband's curse. On getting to know through his divine insight that the Lord was in his ashram, the sage who was doing penance on the Himalayas came to  meet Sri Rama. Sage Gowthama was bold and straightforward. He once chided sage Atri for heaping praise on  a king as he thought it was misplaced. He along with the other sages advised Drona to stop the cruel killings in the war and give up arms. He travelled all over the world with the sole purpose of helping people. He had a very deep conversation with Lord Yama regarding dharma. Even Bhishma referred to Gawthama's explanations when confronted by Yudhistira with similar questions. Gawthama held discussions to seek clarity on several issues, asked questions to get convincing answers and did not hesitate to communicate with people younger than him. He admired his son who had desisted from killing his mother (Devendra's episode) at his own father's behest. He had achieved the power of controlling his senses. He was kind and compassionate not only to people but also towards animals. He once brought a baby elephant which had lost its mother and tended to it like a mother. He had become so possessive about it that when Devendra disguised as Dhritarashtra tried to take it away, he threatened to get it back from whichever loka he had to. Needless to say that Devendra was  struck by the sage's love for the little animal. Gowthama's gurukula was very well-known as he himself was one of the greatest scholars of his time. He had mastered the great Savitri manthra and he was the one to whom the great Vyahrthi Manthra 'Janah' was revealed. There was plenty in his ashram because of his power of tapas. His ashram dwellers had never experienced famine. Once when the whole country reeled under a severe famine for several years, it was the sage who generously welcomed everyone with open arms and played host to them for as long as it was necessary. Though they were all ashamed to  stay on for such a long time, the sage would not hear of their leaving the ashram. Ganesha plotted for all of them to leave and when Gawthama got to know of it, he cursed  all the rishis whose minds became blank, bereft of all knowledge. Lord Narayana had to be born again as VedaVyasa in order to restore knowledge to the world.