Gárgaka: Garga + yujak. Many people are inclined to call the [[“Yujak”]] prefix “Yuj”. If the yujak suffix is added to a word, the conjoint word will end in KA sound. That is why later on many people changed the Yuj suffix into yujak. However, you should know that both Yuj+Yujak is usually used in the sense of colleagues, co-workers, one’s retinue, or band of followers. Maharsi Garga was the Kulapati (chancellor) of a Gurukul (University). He was a distinguished celebrity commanding a lot of name and fame. In those days, the usual practice was that if someone was willing to invite a particular Muni or Rsi, the latter was to be invited together with all his disciples. Hence, it is easily desirable that it was not easy to invite the sage Maharsi Garga because he had over 5000 disciples (chatra).

Do you know the meaning of the word chatra? In those days, whenever the teachers of a gurukul would impart lessons in the forest hermitage or in the periphery of the educational complex, they would sit under a huge umbrella. Those of you who have been to kumbha mela at Prayag have, of course, seen that sannyasiins having affiliations to different groups or categories are seated under the huge umbrellas. The teacher of gurukula would sit under still bigger canopies. Their advanced students, lecturers, teachers and students of higher classes who could sit under that huge umbrella were known as chatras. Hence it is clear that those who would sit under the chatra or umbrella of the kulapati were specially known as chatra+an=chatra chat +rak=chatra.

The word chatri which is commonly used feminine gender of student means the wife of a student. If a girl student was found to be seated under the guru’s umbrella, she was called chatra. Hence one should not say chatras and chatriis of school and college. Rather one should say chatra and chatrás of school and college. Those who would not usually sit under the chatra were students of primary stage called vidyarthi. If other gurus or kulapati were invited, some of those invited would sometimes go alone unaccompanied by their disciples. But Maharsi Garga was a meticulously ideological person. Unless invited together with his disciples, he would not accept an invitation from any person.