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Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c23: Chapter XVIII. The Vasiṣṭhas

Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c23

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Chapter XVIII. The Vasiṣṭhas

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THE Vasiṣṭha family was connected with the kings of Ayodhyā from the earliest times and the Vasiṣṭhas were their hereditary priests.⁶ Thus a Vasiṣṭha is mentioned in connexion with Ikṣvāku and his son Vikukṣi-Śaśada,⁷ and with Ikṣvāku’s son Nimi the first king of Videha; but these particular allusions may be mythical and the fable about Nimi and Vasiṣṭha will be noticed infra. Many Vasiṣṭhas can be distinguished in tradition, but they have been sadly confused in brahmanic stories through the habit of referring to them only by their gotra name Vasiṣṭha. It is rare to find any Vasiṣṭha mentioned by his personal name until we reach Śakti, and the confusion may be illustrated in two ways. First, the epithet of the primaeval mythical Vasiṣṭha, ‘Brahmā’s son’, is applied to the fifth¹ of the Vasiṣṭhas distinguished here, and also to the fourth and seventh confused;² and similarly Arundhatī³ is the name of the wife of the mythical Vasiṣṭha and also of the fourth Vasiṣṭha,⁴ of the fifth,⁵ and of the seventh.⁶ Secondly the confusion went so far that it was declared that one Vasiṣṭha had been priest to many generations of Aikṣvākus,⁷ and finally that there was only one great Vasiṣṭha who had lived through all the ages.⁸

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⁶ Bḍ iii, 48, 29. Viṣ iv, 3, 18. Pad vi, 219, 44; 237, 1. MBh i, 174, 6642.

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⁷ Vā 88, 14, 19, 21. Bḍ iii, 63, 15, 20, 22.

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¹ Raghuv i, 64, 93. Pad vi, 199, 32 ; 219, 38.

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² Lg i, 64, 8, 37.

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³ MBh i, 233, 8456-7. Others which are vague, MBh i, 199, 7352: iii, 113, 10092 : &c. Mat 187, 45. Rām v, 24, 10.

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⁴ Lg. i, 64, 5, 14, 16, &c.

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⁵ Raghuv i, 56-7; ii, 71. Pad vi, 198, 25.

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⁶ Mat 201, 30; and genealogy following. MBh i, 174, 6638 f. is confused.

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⁷ Bḍ iii, 48, 35.

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⁸ MBh i, 174, 6638-45. Cf. sanātana, xiii, 78, 3733.

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Consequently the framing of the Vasiṣṭha genealogy became perplexing and difficult; still a vamśa was constructed. The Vāyu, Brahmāṇḍa and Liṅga⁹ give a common version with minor variations. The Kūrma gives a short and different version, which hardly merits notice. The Matsya has a full list of the rishis and gotras without any pedigree except the piece from ‘Vasiṣṭha’ to Dvaipāyana (Vyāsa).¹⁰ Collating the first three texts, the version appended seems most probable,¹¹ omitting the first nine lines which refer to the mythical Vasiṣṭha. The genealogy consists of three distinct sections, lines 1–11, 12–16 and 17–18, which seemingly start from one and the same Vasiṣṭha but really give separate disconnected pedigrees as will appear. It is not accurate, but may supplement information derived from elsewhere; and the only safe course is to distinguish the several Vasiṣṭhas in connexion with the kings with whom they were associated, and if possible to fix the distinction by names or by appellations that are applied to them and that may be personal names or may reasonably be utilized as such.

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⁹ Vā 70, 79-90. Bḍ iii, 8, 86-100. Lg i, 63, 78-92.

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¹⁰ Kūr i, 19, 20-7. Mat 200 and 201.

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¹¹ Arundhatyāṁ Vasiṣṭhas tu Śaktim utpādayat sutam * Sāgaraṁ † janayac Chakter Adṛśyantī Parāśaram Kālī Parāśarāj jajñe Kṛṣṇaṁ Dvaipāyanaṁ prabhum Dvaipāyanād Araṇyāṁ vai Śuko jajñe guṇānvitaḥ utpadyante ca Pīvaryāṁ ṣaḍ ime Śuka-sūnavah Bhūriśravāḥ Prabhuḥ Śambhuḥ Kṛṣṇo Gaurāś ca pañcamaḥ kanyā Kīrtimatī caiva yoga-mātā dhṛta-vratā jananī Brahmadattasya patnī sā tv Aṇuhasya ca Śvetāḥ Kṛṣṇāś ca Gaurāś ca Śyāmā Dhūmrāḥ sa-mūlikāḥ
* So also Kūr i, 19, 23. Lg sutam utpādayac chatam. † So Vā. Bḍ Svāgajam. Lg jyāyaso.

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The earliest Vasiṣṭha who has a definite position was the famous priest of Ayodhyā in the reigns of Trayyāruṇa, Satyavrata-Triśaṅku and Hariścandra, whose story has been alluded to (p. 151), and may be narrated here.¹

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¹ For the references, see p. 151 note ². Brahmanic versions (fables), MBh i, 175 : ix, 41, 2296–2314 : but differently, v, 105, 3720–31 ; Rām i, 51, 16 to 60, 34. Fully discussed, JRAS, 1913, pp. 888–900: 1917, pp. 37–40.

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Satyavrata was banished by his father Trayyāruṇa and was kept in exile by Vasiṣṭha, who held the kingdom on Trayyāruṇa’s departure. Then occurred a famine for twelve years. At that time Viśvaratha was king of Kānyakubja, but relinquished his kingdom, gave himself up to austerities,² became a brahman and took the name Viśvāmitra. He championed Satyavrata’s cause, and overcoming Vasiṣṭha’s opposition restored him to the throne. Satyavrata appointed Viśvāmitra the royal priest. Vasiṣṭha, thus

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² The references in p. 151, note ² say ‘in low lands near the sea’, sāgarānūpe; but MBh ix, 40, 2273–9, 2283; 41, 2307, 2313 say at Ruṣaṅgu’s tīrtha on the R. Sarasvatī. The two might agree, if the sea then encroached on the Rajputana desert; see note in chap. XXV.

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Ūṣmādā Dārikāś* caiva Nīlāś caiva Parāśarāḥ 10
Parāśarāṇām aṣṭau te pakṣāḥ proktā mahātmanām
ata ūrdhvam nibodhadhvam Indrapramati-sambhavam
Vasiṣṭhasya Kapiñjalyām Ghṛtācyām udapadyata
Kuṇīti† yaḥ samākhyāta Indrapramatir ucyate
Pṛthoḥ sutāyām sambhūtaḥ putras tasyābhavad Vasuḥ 15
Upamanyuḥ sutas tasya yasyēme hy Aupamanyavaḥ
Mitrāvaruṇayoś caiva Kuṇḍino ye‡ pariśrutāḥ
ekārṣeyās tathā cānye Vasiṣṭhā nāma viśrutāḥ
ete pakṣā Vasiṣṭhānām smṛtā ekādaśaiva tu.

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∗ Some Vā, Ūṣmapā Dārakāś. Lg Nīlo Bādarikaś. The correct reading may be Ūṣmā Bādarikāś?

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† Some Vā Kuśiti. There was a Kuśiti much later, see chap. XXVII. A Kuṇi mentioned, Hv 268, 14538.

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‡ Bd Kuṇḍineyāḥ. Lg Kauṇḍinyā ye.

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deprived of the kingdom and the priesthood, bore deadly enmity against Viśvāmitra, and sought revenge by denying his brahmanhood. Vasiṣṭha’s personal name was Devarāj.

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The story goes on thus.¹ On Satyavrata’s death his son Hariścandra was placed on the throne by Viśvāmitra, and Viśvāmitra offered the rājasūya sacrifice for him. But Vasiṣṭha’s hatred and opposition led to Viśvāmitra’s being obliged to depart, and he went to Puṣkara and gave himself up to austerities there.² Vasiṣṭha thus regained the priesthood. Hariścandra then begot a son Rohita, whom he had vowed to sacrifice to Varuṇa, but put off fulfilment for some twenty-two years, and then Rohita saved himself by buying the rishi Ajīgarta’s son Śunaḥśepa as a victim in his own stead. Śunaḥśepa was a Bhārgava and appears to have been Viśvāmitra’s grand-nephew, and, when the sacrifice was due, Viśvāmitra took part in it (his brahmanhood being now acknowledged), it was turned into a formal rite, and Śunaḥśepa was set free. Śunaḥśepa, having lost his position in his own family by the sale, was adopted by Viśvāmitra as his son with the name Devarāta.³

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¹ Aitar Brāhm vii, 3, 1 f. Śāṅkhāyana Śr Sūtra xv, 17–25. Vedārth on Rigv i, 24. Br 104, Bhāg ix, 7, 7–27. MBh xiii, 3, 186–7. Brahmanic version (fable), Rām i, 61, 5 to 62, 27. Fully discussed in JRAS, 1917, pp. 40–67.

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² It is this period of austerities probably that has been so magnified in the brahmanic versions.

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³ Also Viṣ iv, 7, 17: Bhāg ix, 16, 30–2. P. 198.

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About the same time, according to tradition and the same synchronisms, lived Āpava Vasiṣṭha, whose hermitage near the Himalayas Arjuna Kārtavīrya burnt and who cursed him.⁴ Āpava appears to be a patronymic, for he is called ‘son of Varuṇa’, Vāruṇi,⁵ and āpu is supposed to be equivalent to Varuṇa.

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⁴ Vā 94, 39–47; 95, 10–13. Bḍ iii, 69, 39–47; 70, 9–14. Mat 43, 41; 44, 12–14. Br 13, 189–94. Hv 33, 1884–8. MBh xii, 49, 1753–8. Mat 68, 9, erroneously calls him Cyavana. MBh i, 99, 3924–5 wrongly places the hermitage near Mt. Meru.

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⁵ Vā 94, 42–3. Bḍ iii, 69, 42–4. MBh i, 99, 3924–6.

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The next great Vasiṣṭha was priest of Ayodhyā in the time of Hariścandra’s eighth successor, Bāhu, whose position has been established above (p. 155). Bāhu was driven from his throne by the Haihaya-Tālajaṅghas aided by Śakas, Kāmbojas, Yavanas, Pāradas and Pahlavas from the north-west, but Vasiṣṭha maintained his position. Afterwards Bāhu’s son Sagara conquered all those foes, regained the kingdom and determined to exterminate those tribes, which had meanwhile settled down in his territories, but Vasiṣṭha interposed and made him spare them.¹ This Vasiṣṭha is called Āpava² and Atharvanidhi,³ and these may be taken as a name to distinguish him, Atharvanidhi I Āpava, from Atharvanidhi II who will be mentioned soon. He is confused with Devarāj Vasiṣṭha in brahmanical tales, and thus his connexion with the Śakas and other tribes led to the absurd detail in the fables about the contest between Vasiṣṭha and Viśvāmitra, that Vasiṣṭha’s cow created all those and other tribes to fight against Viśvāmitra.⁴

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¹ All fully discussed in JRAS, 1919, pp. 353–63.

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² Bḍ iii, 49, 43.

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³ VN 8, 63. JRAS, 1919, pp. 362–3.

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⁴ Rām i, 54, 18 to 55, 3. MBh i, 175, 6683–6 : ix, 41, 2304–5 : xiii, 78, 3732–3. JRAS, 1919, p. 364.

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The fourth noted Vasiṣṭha was priest to Mitrasaha Kalmāṣapāda Saudāsa, king of Ayodhyā; the fifth was priest to Dilīpa II Khaṭvāṅga; the sixth was priest to Daśaratha and his son Rāma; and the seventh was priest to Paijavana Sudās (Sudāsa), king of N. Pañcāla (p. 116). The fifth is sometimes introduced as having instructed Dilīpa,⁵ and they are the dramatis personae in the first three cantos of the Raghuvamśa,⁶ where (i, 59) the epithet Atharvanidhi is given him. This may be taken as a name for him, and he may therefore be known as Atharvanidhi II, to distinguish him from the third Vasiṣṭha. The sixth holds a prominent position in the Rāmāyaṇa, but no special personal epithet seems to be applied to him.

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⁵ e. g. Pad vi, 220, 1–2.

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⁶ The story is also told in Pad vi, 197, 98 to 199, 65. One has copied from the other apparently.

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The common name Vasiṣṭha, and the similarity in the names of their royal patrons, led to the fourth and the seventh Vasiṣṭhas being somewhat confused. A Vasiṣṭha had a son Śakti,⁷ who had a son Parāśara, as the genealogy says; he was one of these two Vasiṣṭhas, and, as some of the stories confuse them, it is necessary to discuss and distinguish them.

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⁷ MBh xii, 351, 13642; and Vedārth on Rigv i, 65, which quotes the former’s verse as from ‘Puranas’. Śakti is often called Śaktri in the Epic and Puranas.

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As regards the fourth Vasiṣṭha the simplest story is this.⁸ The king Kalmāṣapāda Saudāsa beguiled by a Rākṣasa, offered Vasiṣṭha human flesh as food and was cursed by him. He then became a Rākṣasa and cannibal,¹ and killed and devoured a brahman, but after twelve years regained his sanity. At his desire Vasiṣṭha begot a son Aśmaka of the queen Madayantī.²

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⁸ Viṣ iv, 4, 20–38. Bhāg ix, 9, 18–39. Also Rām vii, 65. VN 9, 3–151 similarly as far as the killing of the brahman.

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¹ Alluded to, MBh xiii, 6, 326 : xiv, 56, 1656.

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² Wife of Saudāsa, Rām v, 24, 12.

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As regards Sudās and his priest Vasiṣṭha the simplest story is in two parts. One³ is that, at a great sacrifice by Sudās, Viśvāmitra was overcome by Śakti, but the Jāmadagnyas gave him speech and succoured the Kuśikas. The other⁴ is that Śakti went to the forest, the king’s servants who were under Viśvāmitra’s bidding cast him into a forest fire, and Vasiṣṭha on learning of Śakti’s fate restrained his grief.⁵

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³ Bṛhadd iv, 112–15. Vedārth on Rigv iii, 53.

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⁴ Anukramaṇī and Vedārth on Rigv vii, 32.

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⁵ I know of no allusions to these two stories in the Puranas.

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Next come the stories that introduce confusion. The Bṛhaddevatā says Vasiṣṭha Vāruṇi’s hundred sons were slain by the Saudāsas, or by Sudāsa who in consequence of a curse had been transformed into a Rakṣas.⁶ The Liṅga says that a Rākṣasa instigated by Viśvāmitra possessed king Kalmāṣapāda Saudāsa and in consequence of Śakti’s curse devoured Śakti and all Vasiṣṭha’s hundred sons; and Śakti’s widow Adṛśyantī bore Parāśara afterwards.⁷ The Mahābhārata amplifies the tale greatly.⁸ Kalmāṣapāda had a dispute with Śakti and struck him and was cursed by him. Viśvāmitra, who coveted Vasiṣṭha’s position, caused a Rākṣasa to possess the king, and the king then offered human flesh as food to an indigent brahman and was cursed by him. The king became a Rākṣasa,⁹ a cannibal¹⁰ maniac, and killed Śakti and all Vasiṣṭha’s hundred sons.¹¹ Vasiṣṭha without seeking revenge tried to destroy himself, but in vain, and Śakti’s widow Adṛśyantī then bore Parāśara. After twelve years Vasiṣṭha cured the king and they were reconciled. Vasiṣṭha then begot Aśmaka of the queen Madayantī.¹ Manu says ‘Vasiṣṭha swore an oath to Paijavana’, and the commentators explain (turning the story round) that before king Sudās Viśvāmitra accused Vasiṣṭha of being a Rakṣas or Yātudhāna and eating his (the king’s) hundred sons, and Vasiṣṭha took an oath denying the charge.²

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⁶ Bṛhadd vi, 28 (Saudāsas), 33–4 (Sudāsa), on Rigv vii, 104.

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⁷ Lg i, 63, 83; 64, 2–47.

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⁸ MBh i, 176 and 177; 182, 6891–6912. Alluded to, id. xiii, 78, 3732–5: Vā 1, 175–7; 2, 10–11: Bḍ i, 2, 10–11.

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⁹ Alluded to, Pad vi, 132, 11–12.

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¹⁰ Alluded to, MBh iii, 207, 13817–18.

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¹¹ Attributed to Viśvāmitra, MBh xiii, 3, 183 : i, 174, 6640–1.

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¹ Alluded to, MBh i, 122, 4736–7: xii, 234, 8604: xiii, 137, 6262. Also Vā 88, 177; Bḍ iii, 63, 177; Kūr i, 21, 12–13.

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² Manu viii, 110. Cited Nārada i, 243.

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This last story may be mistaken, but it is unnecessary to examine the differences in all these stories, because the material question here concerns Vasiṣṭha’s son Śakti, whether he was killed by Kalmāṣapāda Saudāsa, or by Sudās (or his people, the Saudāsas), for both cannot be true and the two kings were apart in time (pp. 147–8).

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There is one certain fact, Parāśara, Śatayātu and ‘Vasiṣṭha’ were contemporaries of Sudās Paijavana.³ That Parāśara was Śakti’s son is well attested;⁴ and also that Śakti was killed;⁵ and it is said his widow Adṛśyantī bore Parāśara after his death,⁶ a statement that appears true, and otherwise there is no reason why it should have been made in the above stories, and it finds some support from the above Rigvedic passage which omits Śakti. Śatayātu then could not be Śakti and was probably another son of Vasiṣṭha.⁷ Thus Śakti lived in the time of Sudās of N. Pañcāla and not in that of Kalmāṣapāda Saudāsa of Ayodhyā; hence he has been wrongly introduced into the story of the latter king. It seems then most probable, that Kalmāṣapāda in his madness killed the sons of his priest ‘Vasiṣṭha’, and that Śakti alone, the son of Sudās’s priest ‘Vasiṣṭha’, was killed in Sudās’s reign. The Bṛhaddevatā has kept the two occurrences distinct in the passages cited above, but otherwise they have been confused, and the Mahābhārata and Liṅga, which know nothing of Sudās, have combined both occurrences into one story and transferred the whole of it to Kalmāṣapāda Saudāsa.¹

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³ Rigv vii, 18, 21–22. ‘Vasiṣṭha’ is connected with him and consecrated him; Aitar Brāhm vii, 5, 34; viii, 4, 21.

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⁴ Anukramaṇī and Vedārth on Rigv i, 65. MBh i, 181, 6885 (Śaktra), 6866 (Śaktreya): xii, 351, 13642: &c.

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⁵ See references above.

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⁶ MBh and Lg accounts above. Implied in Vā 1, 175 (read Adṛśyantyām); cf. id. 2, 12. She is named, MBh v, 116, 3970.

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⁷ So Geldner suggested; Vedic Index ii, 352.

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¹ So also Vā 1, 175. Also MBh xii, 49, 1792-3 (which is brahmanical), wrongly making Parāśara preserve (Kalmāṣapāda-) Saudāsa’s son Sarvakarman (see p. 152) in Rāma Jāmadagnya’s time, all three persons being widely apart in time.

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We may endeavour to distinguish these two Vasiṣṭhas further as regards their personal names. Kalmāṣapāda’s Vasiṣṭha is called *brahma-kośa*,² and twice *śreṣṭha-bhāj*.³ Either word might be an epithet or name. The former word appears to be an epithet, ‘treasury of sacred lore,’ because it is joined with other epithets,⁴ and is applied to other rishis also.⁵ *Śreṣṭha-bhāj* is rare, and as an adjective, ‘sharing in or possessing the best,’⁶ has no obvious fitness in its context, where it would be quite appropriate as a name; and it is not given to any other rishi as far as I am aware. It may, then, be reasonably taken as a name, and Kalmāṣapāda’s Vasiṣṭha may be distinguished as Śreṣṭha-bhāj.

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² MBh xiii, 78, 3733, 3735.

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³ MBh i, 177, 6760, 6788.

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⁴ Siddha, sanātana, and gavām upaniṣad-vidvān.

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⁵ To Atri, Vā 64, 27; Bd ii, 38, 28. Cf. Vā 28, 5; Bd ii, 11, 6.

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⁶ So in MBh xii, 343, 13163, pratibuddhas tu śreṣṭha-bhāk. Sörensen does not give it. Śreṣṭha-bhāgin as an adjective, Vā 60, 37; Bd ii, 34, 40.

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Sudās’s Vasiṣṭha is not alluded to in Puranic tradition, but is mentioned in three stories in the epic, if he was the Vasiṣṭha who is connected with Saṃvaraṇa in them, namely, how Saṃvaraṇa was driven out of his kingdom of Hastināpura by a Pañcāla king (who was Sudās) and after obtaining ‘Vasiṣṭha’s’ aid recovered his kingdom;⁷ how afterwards ‘Vasiṣṭha’ obtained Tapaī as wife for Saṃvaraṇa; and how afterwards again ‘Vasiṣṭha’ governed the kingdom during twelve years of drought when Saṃvaraṇa was absent.⁸ No special epithet is applied to Vasiṣṭha in the latter two stories,⁹ but in the first he is called Suvarcas.¹⁰ This was a name, not uncommon,¹¹ hence it may reasonably be taken here also as a name, and Saṃvaraṇa’s Vasiṣṭha at that time may be distinguished as Vasiṣṭha Suvarcas. But Sudās’s Vasiṣṭha was an old man in Sudās’s reign, because his grandson Parāśara was old enough to take part in the hymn (vii, 18). He might be the Vasiṣṭha in the first story, but can hardly have been the Vasiṣṭha of the second and third stories.

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⁷ MBh i, 94, 3725-37. P. 172. JRAS, 1918, pp. 245-8.

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⁸ MBh i, 173, 6618-30. P. 66. JRAS, 1917, pp. 38-9.

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⁹ In MBh i, 173, 6596, Calcutta edition, for amitraghnam read amitraghnas as in the Bombay edition.

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¹⁰ MBh i, 94, 3733.

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¹¹ A king, MBh xiv, 4, 72. A prince, i, 117, 4549. A rishi, Mārk 99, 11. See dictionary also.

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It seems more probable, however, that the same Vasiṣṭha is meant in the three stories, and in that case Saṃvaraṇa’s Vasiṣṭha would not be the same as Sudās’s Vasiṣṭha, but rather a son. If so, there is no name to be assigned to Sudās’s Vasiṣṭha, and Saṃvaraṇa’s Vasiṣṭha would have the name Suvarcas,¹ and would be the ninth ‘Vasiṣṭha’ of note, reckoning Śakti as the eighth. Till this time the Vasiṣṭhas had been almost exclusively connected with Ayodhyā or Videha,² and Sudās’s Vasiṣṭha is the first who was definitely priest to an Aila king.³ It may be suggested that the conquest of Śūrasena and Mathurā by Rāma’s brother Śatrughna (p. 170), a little earlier than Sudās’s reign, may have led some of the Vasiṣṭhas into other kingdoms. Afterwards the Vasiṣṭhas spread elsewhere, and various places were connected with ‘Vasiṣṭha’.⁴

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¹ Probably priest to Saṃvaraṇa’s son Kuru, MBh ix, 39, 2211–13.

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² They belonged to the ‘east’, so MBh v, 107, 3773.

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³ Rantideva Sāṅkṛtya, who was earlier (p. 39), is said to have done honour to a ‘Vasiṣṭha’, MBh xiii, 137, 6250: xii, 234, 8591. In brahmanical fables ‘Vasiṣṭha’ is connected with king Nahuṣa the Aila erroneously, Pad ii, 108; also as priest with Purūravas, Br 151, 8, 10.

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⁴ e. g. MBh i, 215, 7813–14: iii, 82, 4097–8.

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In these three rishis, ‘Vasiṣṭha,’ his son Śakti and his son Parāśara, occurs the first genuine pedigree⁵ in the genealogy (lines 1, 2), the first part of the first section. It goes on to say that Parāśara was father of Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana, that is, Vyāsa, by Kālī. Now Vyāsa was certainly son of a Parāśara and Kālī, as will be noticed, but he was born in king Śantanu’s reign and she became Santanu’s queen. There was a long interval with many kings between Sudās (Sudāsa) of N. Pañcāla and Śantanu (p. 148), and it is impossible that Śakti’s son Parāśara of Sudās’s time⁶ could have been Vyāsa’s father. Vyāsa then was son of a Parāśara but not of Parāśara Sāktya. Hence there must have been two Parāśaras. This is not improbable (p. 130), and certain particulars support this conclusion.

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⁵ Mat 201, 30–31. Kūr i, 19, 23.

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⁶ This Parāśara is said to have destroyed Rākṣasas, MBh i, 181, 6866–85; Lg i, 64, 107; Viṣ i, 1, 4–34.

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First, Parāśara (line 2) is called Sāgara or Svāgaja, and these two words are an instance of the importance of readings that appear unmeaning (p. 83). The Liṅga’s reading jyāyaso throws no light on them, for it is obviously an ‘emendation’ to suit the alteration it has made in the preceding line, declaring that Śakti was the eldest of the hundred sons according to its confusion of the stories noticed above. Svāgaja suggests svāgraja, but the possible readings svāgrajam, svāgrajo and svāgrajāt are untenable, if we consider the force of sva, the fact that Śakti had only one son Parāśara who was born after his death, and the consequent meaning of the sentence. Sāgaram or Svāgajam must therefore be an accusative agreeing with Parāśaram. Śakti’s son was Parāśara Śāktya, hence the passage suggests that there was a Parāśara called Sāgara or Svāgaja, and that it has blended the two.

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Secondly, the Anukramaṇī, in its mention of Parāśara as part author of hymn ix, 97, seems conscious of a difference. It says that ‘Vasiṣṭha’ saw the first three verses, that the nine ‘Vasiṣṭhas’, Indrapramati, Vṛṣagaṇa, Manyu, Upamanyu, Vyāghrapad, Śakti, Karṇaśrut, Mṛlīka and Vasukra, each saw three more verses separately, and that Parāśara composed 14 and ‘Kutsa’ the rest. It thus knew that Śakti was a Vasiṣṭha, and also that he had a son Parāśara, for it attributes hymns i, 65 to 73 to Parāśara Śāktya, and so knew that Parāśara was a Vasiṣṭha. If then this Parāśara of ix, 97 was Śakti’s son, it might naturally have called him Vasiṣṭha or Śāktya, yet it does not do so and leaves his name without particularization. This suggests that there might be a Parāśara other than Śāktya.¹ The Vedārthadīpikā on the same hymn tends to confirm this doubt, for it specifies ‘Vasiṣṭha’ as Maitrāvaruṇi, calls the nine others ‘sons of Vasiṣṭha’, yet makes no reference to Parāśara, who as author of 14 verses was more important than any of them, thus suggesting that it was not clear who this Parāśara was. Those nine Vasiṣṭhas were not all sons of one Vasiṣṭha, for Upamanyu was Indrapramati’s grandson, as will appear, and the Vedārthadīpikā says they composed their verses all quite independently. The hymn therefore was not composed at one time, but grew in the course of time, so that Parāśara's later 14 verses may well have been added by a second Parāśara.

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¹ Rigv v, 29 is attributed to Gaurivīti Śāktya, but x, 73 and 74 simply to Gaurivīti by the Anukramaṇī, and it will appear among the Sānkṛtyas in chap. XXIII that there were probably two Gaurivītis: but the Vedārth ascribes the two latter hymns also to Śāktya.

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There are reasonable grounds then, chronological and textual, for holding that there were two Parāśaras, and there is no improbability in this, for there were other Parāśaras later still; see chapter XXVII. The same names reappeared, as is proved by the fact that one of Kṛṣṇa Vyāsa's grandsons also was called Kṛṣṇa as the genealogy (lines 2-6) and other authorities that will be noticed say. To this later Parāśara,¹ who lived in Śantanu's time, we may fairly attach the epithet Sāgara or Svāgaja. Svāgaja is not grammatically a properly formed patronymic, but Sāgara is; hence we may prefer the latter and distinguish him as Sāgara, ‘son of Sagara’.² The genealogy would then have blended the two Parāśaras,³ just as it will now be shown to have confused two Śukas, yet its preservation of these two epithets has saved some trace of the distinction.

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¹ Pārāśarya Sārika (MBh ii, 4, 108) was probably his descendant.

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² Sagara was a real name, that of the famous king of Ayodhyā. A more curious case, Samudra father of Aśva, Śatapatha Brāhm xiii, 2, 2, 14.

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³ So also MBh i, 60, 2209 : xii, 351, 13642-3 : xiii, 24, 1677. Viṣ iii, 3, 18, 21 ; 4, 2; vi, 2, 6, 9, 10.

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Next comes the second part of the first section. Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana Vyāsa⁴ was the son of this later Parāśara by the fisher-maiden Kālī, who was called Satyavatī⁵ and became king Śantanu's queen.⁶ Vyāsa's wife was Araṇi, and their son was Śuka,⁷ called Kārṣṇi,⁸ Vaiyāsaki⁹ and Āraṇeya.¹⁰ Śuka's wife was Pīvarī, who appears to have been his half-sister, for the expression pitṛ-kanyā in her case could not mean ‘daughter of the Pitṛs’ (p. 69). They had five sons, and also, it is said, a daughter Kīrtimatī, and, if so, the genealogy is certainly wrong in making her Aṇuha's queen and Brahmadatta's mother, by confusing two Śukas as shown above (p. 64). The five sons were Bhūriśravas,¹ Prabhu (or Pṛthu), Śambhu, Kṛṣṇa and Gaura.

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⁴ He is called a Vasiṣṭha, Vā 1, 10.

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⁵ MBh i, 60, 2208-9 ; 63, 2396 f. : &c. Pp. 69-70. Viṣ vi, 2, 10.

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⁶ MBh i, 95, 3801-2 ; 100, 4011 to 101, 4067 : &c.

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⁷ MBh i, 1, 103 ; 63, 2418 : xii, 231, 8485 : &c. Id. xii, 326, 12187-97 in a brahmanical fable makes Śuka the son of Vyāsa through the araṇi. Lg i, 63, 85 gives them a second son Upamanyu apparently erroneously, see infra.

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⁸ MBh xii, 327, 12258 ; 328, 12264.

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⁹ MBh xii, 231, 8485. Bḍ ii, 33, 14.

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¹⁰ MBh xii, 326, 12207 ; 329, 12339, 12342 : &c.

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¹ Mentioned, Bḍ ii, 33, 14. ² Mat 201, 33–8, which gives the gotras in each sub-family. ³ Also Vā 60, 25, 27. Mat 200, 13. There was a later Indrapramati, see chap. XXVII. ⁴ Or Kuśīti; see the genealogy. Also a later Kuśīti, chap. XXVII. ⁵ He may be Vasumant, who was famous, Vā 64, 27 : Bḍ ii, 38, 29. ⁶ Upamanyu occurs in Rigv i, 102, 9. ⁷ Mat 145, 109–11; Vā 59, 105–6; Bḍ ii, 32, 115–16 : Vasiṣṭhaś caiva Śaktiś ca tṛtīyaś ca Parāśaraḥ caturtha Indrapramatiḥ pañcamas tu Bharadvasuḥ ṣaṣṭhas tu Maitrāvaruṇaḥ * Kuṇḍinaḥ saptamas tathā ity ete sapta vijñeyā Vāsiṣṭhā brahma-vādinaḥ. Where * Mat reads Mitrāvaruṇaḥ. ⁸ So Vedārth on the hymn. ⁹ A Kauṇḍinya, MBh ii, 4, 111. ¹⁰ Rigv vii, 33, 11. Third note above. ¹¹ MBh i, 178, 6801 : ix, 43, 2386 : xii, 304, 11222. Br 240, 7. Bṛhadd v, 160. Vedārth on Rigv i, 166, introduction to vii, and on ix, 97.

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The Matsya says that Parāśara’s descendants composed six pravaras, sub-families, named Gaura, Nīla, Kṛṣṇa, Śveta, Śyāma and Dhūmra;² but the genealogy says they formed eight pakṣas, ‘groups,’ namely, six bearing those six names and two others, which the readings leave doubtful but of which one seems probably Bādarika.

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The second section of the genealogy (lines 12–16) says that ‘Vasiṣṭha’ had by his wife Kapiñjalī Ghṛtācī a famous son Indrapramati,³ well known as Kuṇin or Kuṇīti.⁴ He married Pṛthu’s daughter and had a son Vasu,⁵ and Vasu had a son Upamanyu,⁶ the progenitor of the Upamanyus or Aupamanyavas. Indrapramati was a well-known rishi,⁷ and there were more than one rishi named Upamanyu, as will appear. These two and Śakti and six other Vasiṣṭhas, as mentioned above, each composed three verses of Rigveda ix, 97, all independently, so that Upamanyu’s contribution must have been some time after Indrapramati’s, if the order of the rishis is chronological; and Indrapramati later than Maitrāvaruṇi Vasiṣṭha, if the opening verses were composed by the latter.⁸

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The third section of the genealogy (lines 17–18) says that from Mitra and Varuṇa sprang the Vasiṣṭhas who were called Kuṇḍins, Kuṇḍineyas or Kauṇḍinyas.⁹ This deals with the Vasiṣṭha who was called Maitrāvaruṇa¹⁰ or Maitrāvaruṇi.¹¹ This name is acknowledged to be a patronymic and is taken to mean ‘son of Mitra and Varuṇa’, and is explained by a fable, that from them both, after they saw the apsaras Urvaśī, Vasiṣṭha was born in a jar and so was son of both, and Agastya also was so begotten and born at the same time.¹ The fable appears in Rigveda vii, 33, but the statements there are hardly consistent or have blended different fancies, for verse 13 says both were so born in a jar together,² while verse 12 says that Vasiṣṭha was born of Urvaśī the apsaras.

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¹ Sarvānukramaṇī and Vedārth on Rigv i, 166. Nirukta v, 13. Mat 61, 26-31, 36, 50; 201, 23-9. Pad v, 22, 29-34, 37-40. Viṣ iv, 5, 6, Cf. MBh xiii, 158, 7372. Differently, Rām vii, 56, 12-23; 57, 1-9. Vasiṣṭha’s lawbook says this Vasiṣṭha was Śatayātu (xxx, 11; SBE xiv. p. 140)—chronologically impossible, see ante.

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² Bṛhadd v, 149-56 develops this story with details and adds a third outcome of this production, namely, ‘Matsya’.

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The fable was obviously devised to explain the name Maitrāvaruṇa, and the hymn has combined that with another fable that ‘Vasiṣṭha’ (and not Agastya³) was born of Urvaśī in order to explain the metronymic Aurvaśa which was the name of a ‘Vasiṣṭha’.⁴ This view is supported by another fact, that a reason why ‘Vasiṣṭha’ was born from Mitra and Varuṇa was necessary and was supplied by another fable, often linked with the former. Nimi, the first king of Videha, and ‘Vasiṣṭha’ had a quarrel and cursed each other to become bodiless (vi-deha);⁵ both then went to Brahmā and he assigned Nimi to the eyes of creatures, whence they wink (nimeṣa), and said Vasiṣṭha should be son of Mitra and Varuṇa with the name Vasiṣṭha.⁶ This fable has manifestly been fabricated or modified to explain the name Videha and supply a reason for the birth from Mitra and Varuṇa.

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³ No Agastya is called Aurvaśa, as far as I know. Aurvaśeya is said to be a name of ‘Agastya’ by lexicographers.

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⁴ Bṛhadd ii, 37, 44, 156: iii, 56. Under id. ii, 37 Prof. Macdonell says hymns vii, 101 and 102 are ascribed to him.

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⁵ Mat 61, 32-6; 201, 1-17. Pad v, 22, 34-7. Viṣ iv, 5, 1-5. Vā 89, 4. Bḍ iii, 64, 4. Bhāg ix, 13, 1-6. Rām vii, 55 to 56, 11; 57, 9-16.

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⁶ Mat 201, 17-22 and Pad v, 22, 37-40, where the signification of the name seems to be that offered by Bṛhadd v, 156, ‘from the root vas, expressive of pre-eminence’. Bhāg ix, 13, 6-11.

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The fable is impossible. Maitrāvaruṇa is a proper patronymic from Mitrāvaruṇa. The earliest rishis sometimes bore the names of gods (p. 131), and if they chose the double name of these two gods who are so often united, it would appear as Mitrāvaruṇa,¹ which does actually occur as the name of a Vasiṣṭha.²

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¹ The long medial ā might be a relic of the dual formation Mitrā-varuṇau, as in the plural compound Mitrā-Varuṇa-Dakṣāṃśa-, &c. (Bṛhadd iv, 82), or the lengthening of the medial vowel, as in viśvānara, Viśvāmitra, gūrtāvasu (see Macdonell’s Vedic Grammar, p. 10, 4 d). If the meaning were really ‘relating to (descended from) Mitra and Varuṇa’, Maitrāvāruṇa might perhaps be expected, as Maitrābārhaspatya shows.

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² See twelfth note ante, where Mat reading Mitrāvaruṇa is probably correct rather than Vā and Bḍ reading Mitrā°, for the latter might easily be an ‘emendation’ of the former, whereas the reverse is highly improbable. Mitrāvaruṇa is mentioned again, Mat 200, 16, and is probably the true name. The Vedārth may support this perhaps, for it attributes hymn viii, 67 in the alternative to Mānya (i.e. an Agastya), Mitrāvaruṇa-putra, which means naturally ‘son of Mitrāvaruṇa’; whereas ‘son of Mitra and Varuṇa’ should rather be Mitra-Varuṇa-putra in its Sanskrit.

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The genealogy makes this Vasiṣṭha Maitrāvaruṇa ancestor only of the Kuṇḍins, or Kuṇḍinas as the name is more often given. This family obviously took its name from its ancestor, just like the Viśvāmitras, Kaṇvas and others. Hence he was Kuṇḍin, or Kuṇḍina, Maitrāvaruṇa, son of Mitrāvaruṇa. Kuṇḍina is named as a Vasiṣṭha twice and mentioned along with Mitrāvaruṇa,³ and both (p. 214) were Vasiṣṭhas who were brahma-vādins. Kuṇḍina would naturally be connected with kuṇḍin, ‘having a pitcher,’ and Maitrāvaruṇa was taken to mean ‘son of Mitra and Varuṇa’; thus these two names reveal at once how the above fables were fabricated by way of folk etymology.

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³ Mat 200, 15, 16.

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The fable about Vasiṣṭha and Agastya is very ancient, because it was current when hymn vii, 33 was composed in or soon after the reign of Sudās, whom it praises and whose chronological position has been fixed (p. 172); and it required time for its development. So far as it concerns Agastya it will be further noticed in chapter XXII. The Vasiṣṭhas were a well known family then, as verses 2–9 show; hence it obviously refers to some progenitor, and therefore Maitrāvaruṇa was a Vasiṣṭha far earlier than Sudās’s priest Vasiṣṭha. Vasiṣṭha Maitrāruṇi is said to have composed the first three verses of hymn ix, 97 and hymns vii, 1 and 3 to 17,⁴ and even all the hymns in the seventh maṇḍala,⁵ but vii, 33 can be his only if Maitrāvaruṇi means a descendant of Maitrāvaruṇa, for Maitrāvaruṇa, as shown, lived far earlier. The epic applies Maitrāvaruṇi to the fourth Vasiṣṭha, who was Kalmāṣapāda’s priest,¹ and this is quite possibly right; but the Bṛhaddevatā calls him Vāruṇi (vi, 33–4), perhaps for short. All that seems clear is that Maitrāvaruṇa was Kuṇḍina and was long prior to Sudās’s Vasiṣṭha, and that Mitrāvaruṇa Vasiṣṭha was earlier still.²

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⁴ Bṛhadd v, 160.

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⁵ Vedārth on i, 166, and introduction to vii.

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¹ MBh i, 178, 6801.

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² Some passages even make Maitrāvaruṇi Vasiṣṭha the purohita of Manu’s sons, Mat 12, 4–5: Pad v, 8, 109–10. This may have some connexion with the above fable and with the fable that Manu’s daughter Ilā was produced by Mitra and Varuṇa at Manu’s sacrifice; Vā 85, 6, 9, 13; Bd iii, 60, 5, 8, 12; Hv 10, 615–22; Br 7, 3–8; Viṣ iv, 1, 6–8.

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The patronymic Vāruṇi is also applied to a Vasiṣṭha who sang the fable about king Nāhuṣa (Yayāti?) and the Sarasvatī,³ and to Āpava Vasiṣṭha (ante). A Vasiṣṭha unspecified is said to have had a father Varuṇa.⁴

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³ Bṛhadd vi, 20–4.

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⁴ Id. vi, 11–15.

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Other Vasiṣṭhas are alluded to: thus, one was purohita of Mucukunda,⁵ as would be natural, since this Mucukunda was no doubt the son of Māndhātṛ of Ayodhyā (p. 93); and another, as mentioned above, received honour from king Rantideva, who was about contemporary with king Hastin (pp. 112, 146).

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⁵ MBh xii, 74, 2811–14.

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The Jātūkarṇyas were a Vasiṣṭha gotra.⁶ This name is a patronymic, and so there were several of the name. Jātūkarṇa or a Jātūkarṇya is said to have taught Vyāsa the Veda⁷ and the Purana,⁸ and is described as Vyāsa’s predecessor as regards the Veda.⁹ There were other Jātūkarṇyas later.¹⁰

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⁶ Mat 200, 19. Vā 1, 9–10. Bhāg ix, 2, 21 says Jātūkarṇya famed as Kānīna was Agniveśya, and derives him from Nariṣyanta, Manu’s son (chap. XXIV): if so, he would be a different person in a different gotra.

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⁷ Vā 1, 44. Hv 42, 2364. Vedic literature says Vyāsa was a disciple of Viṣvaksena, Vedic Index, ii, 339. The two may be the same.

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⁸ Bd i, 1, 11.

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⁹ In the fanciful lists of the successive Vyāsas in the 28 Dvāparas of this manvantara, Vā 23, 115–219: Bd ii, 35, 116–25: Viṣ iii, 3, 11–19: Lg i, 7, 12–18; 24, 12–127: Kūr i, 52, 1–8.

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¹⁰ See Vedic Index.

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