Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c23.106

c23.106

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.