Shaunaka is the name of the teacher of the Atharva Veda. Shaunaka was a great Sanskrit grammarian. He was famous for his works namely, the Rigveda-Pratisakhya, the Brihad-devata, the Carana-vyuha and other works. Shaunaka is stated as the teacher of Katyayana and especially of Ashvalayana, and is said to have united the Bashkala and Shakala Shakhas of the Rig veda. As mentioned in the Hindu legends, Shaunaka is often identified with Gritsamada, a Vedic Rishi.

The Vishnu Purana affirms that Shaunaka was the son of Gritsamada, and invented the system of the four levels of human life. Shaunaka wrote Rigveda-Pratisakhya and taught it to others in the Satra-Yajna, a twelve day long Yajna.

In the epic Mahabharata, Shaunaka had an important role. The epic Mahabharata was narrated by story teller Ugrasrava Sauti to Shaunaka during a gathering of sages headed by Shaunaka in a forest named Naimisha.

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