Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c23.80

c23.80

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