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Bharadwaja was sage Valmiki's disciple, son of Uthathya and Mamatha. Drona was his son. He was one of the Saptharishis who belonged to the Vedic Age. He lived through the first three yugas and was the originator of the Bharadwaja gotra. He was the first person to listen to the Ramayana from his guru. He had a major role to play in many events in the Ramayana. He was extremely intelligent. Unfortunately, he was deserted as a child by his parents.
The Maruth Devas found the abandoned child and took him under their care. Later he was asked to do severe tapas to get more knowledge from Devendra. Bharadwaja had an insatiable thirst for knowledge. However, Indra felt that all that would go waste if his lineage was not taken care of. Indra advised him to become a gruhastha . Though he wasn't interested , he realized that it was a responsibility and hence sought Indra's blessings for the purpose .
The Maruth Devas found that none of Bharatha's children survived to succeed him. So they asked him to adopt Bharadwaja. Thus the sage got married to Susheela and got entitled to ascend the throne. But as he was interested in spreading the message of the Vedas, he prayed to AgniDeva to bless Bharatha with a son. He anointed him king and left to perform the duty that was close to his heart. He established an ashram on the banks of the river Saraswathi and it came to be one of the most sought after centers for the study of the Vedas.
Later, when there was a dreadful epidemic, he learnt Ayurveda from Devendra and used his knowledge to give relief to multitudes of people. He distributed a huge number of royal gifts that he had received from two royal disciples, Divodasa and Abhyavarthi. He had no use for them! He was a true patriot and did everything to preserve and protect dharma.