A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.2006

c5.2006

In the same Veda and in the Aitareya Brāhmana, Vasishtha appears as the family priest of King Sudās, a position to which his rival Viswāmitra aspired. This is amplified in the Mahā- bhārata, where he is not the priest of Sudās but of his son Kalmāsha-pāda, who bore the patronymic Saudāsa. It is said that his rival Viswāmitra was jealous, and wished to have this office for himself, but the king preferred Vasishtha. Vasishtha had a hundred sons, the eldest of whom was named Saktri. He, meeting the king in the road, was ordered to get out of the way; but he civilly replied that the path was his, for by the law a king must cede the way to a Brāhman. The king struck him with a whip, and he retorted by cursing the king to become a man-eater. Viswāmitra was present, but invisible, and he maliciously commanded a man-devouring Rākshasa to enter the king. So the king became a man-eater, and his first victim was Saktri. The same fate befell all the hundred sons, and Vasishtha's grief was boundless. He endeavoured to destroy himself in various ways. He cast himself from the top of Mount Meru, but the rocks he fell upon were like cotton. He passed through a burning forest without harm. He threw himself into the sea with a heavy stone tied to his neck, but the waves cast him on dry land. He plunged into a river swollen by rain, but although he had bound his arms with cords, the stream loosened his bonds and landed him unbound (vipāsa) on its banks. From this the river received the name of Vipāsā (Byās). He threw himself into another river full of alligators, but the river rushed away in a hundred directions, and was consequently called Sata-dru (Sutlej). Finding that he could not kill himself, he returned to his hermitage, and was met in the wood by King Kalmāsha-pāda, who was about to devour him, but Vasishtha exorcised him and delivered him from the curse he had borne for twelve years. The sage then directed the king to return to his kingdom and pay due respect to Brāhmans. Kalmāsha-pāda begged Vasishtha to give him offspring. He promised to do so, and "being solicited by the king to beget an heir to the throne, the queen became pregnant by him and brought forth a son at the end of twelve years."