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In Indian religions, a rishi ( ) is an accomplished and enlightened person. They find mention in various . Rishis are believed to have composed hymns of the Vedas. The Post-Vedic tradition of Hinduism regards the rishis as "great " or "sages" who after intense meditation (tapas) realized the supreme truth and eternal knowledge, which they composed into hymns.Hartmut Scharfe (2002), Handbook of Oriental Studies, BRILL Academic, , pp. 13–15. The term appears in Pali literature as Isi; in Buddhism they can be either Buddhas, Pratyekabuddha, Arhat or a monk of high rank.
Another form of this root means "to flow, to move near by flowing". (All the meanings and derivations cited above are based upon Sanskrit English Dictionary of Monier-Williams). Monier-Williams also quotes Tārānātha who compiled the great (Sanskrit-to-Sanskrit) dictionary named "ṛṣati jñānena saṃsāra-pāram" (i.e., "one who reaches beyond this mundane world by means of spiritual knowledge").
Before Monier-Williams' work was published, Yāska suggested it came from "drish" and quotes Aupamanyava to support his opinion.
However, the root has a close Avestan cognate ərəšišYasna 31.5; cf. 40.4 "an ecstatic" (see also Yurodivy, Vates). Yet the Indo-European dictionary of Julius Pokorny connects the word to a PIE root *h₃er-s meaning "rise, protrude", in the sense of "excellent" and thus cognate with Ṛta and and Asha. In Sanskrit, forms of the root rish become arsh- in many words, (e.g., arsh).
Modern etymological explanations such as by Manfred Mayrhofer in his Etymological Dictionary Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen, Heidelberg 1986, I 261 leave the case open, and do not prefer a connection to "pour, flow" (PIE *h₁ers), rather one with German rasen "to be ecstatic, be in a different state of mind" (and perhaps Lithuanian aršus).
Post-Vedic tradition regards the Rishis as "sages" or , constituting a peculiar class of divine human beings in the early mythical system, as distinct from , Devas and mortal men. Swami Vivekananda described "Rishi"s as Mantra-drashtas or "the seers of thought". He told— "The truth came to the Rishis of India — the Mantra-drashtâs, the seers of thought — and will come to all Rishis in the future, not to talkers, not to book-swallowers, not to scholars, not to philologists, but to seers of thought."
The Rig Veda mentions female rishikas such as Romasha, Lopamudra, Apala, Kadru, Visvavara, Ghosha, Juhu, Vagambhrini, Paulomi, Yami, Indrani, Savitri and Devayani. The Sama Veda adds Nodha, Akrishtabhasha, Sikatanivavari and Gaupayana.
In Mahabharata 12, on the other hand, there is the post-Vedic list of Marichi, Atri, Angiras, Pulaha, Kratu, Pulastya and Vashista. The Mahābhārata list explicitly refers to the saptarshis of the first manvantara and not to those of the present manvantara. Each manvantara had a unique set of saptarshi. In Harivamsha 417ff, the names of the Rishis of each manvantara are enumerated.
In addition to the Sapta, there are other classifications of sages. In descending order of precedence, they are Brahmarshi, Maharshi, Rajarshi. Deva, Param, Shruta and Kānda are added in Manusmriti iv-94 and xi-236 and in two dramas of Kālidasa.
The Chaturvarga-Chintāmani of Hemādri puts '' at the seventh place in the eightfold division of Brāhmanas. AmarakoshaAmarakosha (2.7.41–42) (the famous Sanskrit synonym lexicon compiled by Amarasimha) mentions seven types of s : Shrutarshi, Kāndarshi, Paramarshi, Maharshi, Rājarshi, Brahmarshi and Devarshi. Amarakosha strictly distinguishes Rishi from other types of sages, such as sanyāsi, , parivrājaka, tapasvi, muni, brahmachāri, yati, etc.
Many Jatakas also mentions various Rishis. The Naḷinikā Jātaka (Jā 526) introduces a Bodhisattva, a Rishi(Isi), living alone in the Himālayas. His son, who was also a Rishi, was named Rishyasringa (Pali; Sanskrit: Ṛṣyaśṛṅga). The Agastya Jataka (Sanskrit; Pali: Akkhata Jataka) story, mentions Bodhisattva, named Agastya(Sanskrit; Pali: Akkhata) as Rishi.
In Carnatic music, "Rishi" is the seventh chakra (group) of Melakarta . The names of chakras are based on the numbers associated with each name. In this case, there are seven rishis and hence the 7th chakra is "Rishi". South Indian Music Book III, by Prof. P Sambamoorthy, Published 1973, The Indian Music Publishing House Ragas in Carnatic music by Dr. S. Bhagyalekshmy, Pub. 1990, CBH Publications
The descendant families of these Rishis, refer to their ancestral lineage through their family "gotra". This is a common practice among the Brahmin sects of the current Hindu society.
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