A History of Indian Literature v1.c9.s5.78

v1.c9.s5.78

While these Agastya-legends are intended to show the tremendous ascendancy of the brahmanical saint over gods and men, we find in the Mahābhārata also a whole cycle of legends, the heroes of which are the famous Ṛṣis *Vasiṣṭha and Viśvāmitra*,³ and in which, though in the end they also serve for the glorification of the Brahmans, there can still be perceived distinct traces of the struggle for supremacy between priests and warriors. The roots of these legends reach back far into the Vedic period, and they recur in various versions also in the Rāmāyaṇa epic and in the Purāṇas. The contents of the legend according to the Mahābhārata are briefly as follows: