Yajnavalkya or Yagyavlkya (Sanskrit: याज्ञवल्क्य, Yājñavalkya) is a Hindu Vedic sage figuring in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (c
700 BCE)
Yajnavalkya proposes and debates metaphysical questions about the nature of existence, consciousness and impermanence, and expounds the epistemic doctrine of neti neti (“not this, not this”) to discover the universal Self and Ātman
Texts attributed to him include the Yajnavalkya Smriti, Yoga Yajnavalkya and some texts of the Vedanta school
He is also mentioned in various Brahmanas and Aranyakas