Vartantu

Vartantu (4360 BC) was an Indian sage, (Also known as Bartrend or Vartrend) who had a big ashrama in Bharuch for education of children in the kingdom of Raghu II, son of Dilip II and grandfather of Lord Rama.

Significance as in Festival of Vijay Dashami

There is a very popular tale of Rishi Vartantu, that has its importance for the festival Vijay Dashami still popularly celebrated in India, during months of October–November.

The tale goes like this -

In the city of Paithan, there lived a Brahmin named Devdutta. He had an intelligent son called Kautsa. Kautsa had gone to Sage Vartantu who lived in Bharuch to study the Vedas. There he acquired immense knowledge, learnt the fourteen Vidyas from Sage Vartantu and became an expert in all the sciences. Later when Kautsa expressed his desire to give him his fees (guru dakshina) for teaching him, Sage Vartantu said, "You have become so learned. The happiness that I get from it is my fees." But Kautsa felt that if he did not give any guru dakshina, the knowledge that he had gained would not bear any fruit. Also it was his earnest desire. Finally, Sage Vartantu asked Kautsa to bring fourteen crores (140 million) of gold coins. While doing so he imposed a condition that all the coins must be brought from the same place.