A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.2007

c5.2007

Another legend in the Mahā-bhārata represents Viswāmitra as commanding the river Saraswatī to bring Vasishtha, so that he might kill him. By direction of Vasishtha the river obeyed the command, but on approaching Viswāmitra, who stood ready armed, it promptly carried away Vasishtha in another direction. The enmity of Vasishtha and Viswāmitra comes out very strongly in the Rāmāyaṇa. Viswāmitra ruled the earth for many thousand years as king, but he coveted the wondrous cow of plenty which he had seen at Vasishṭha’s hermitage, and attempted to take her away by force. A great battle followed between the hosts of King Viswāmitra and the warriors produced by the cow to support her master. A hundred of Viswāmitra’s sons were reduced to ashes by the blast of Vasishṭha’s mouth, and Viswāmitra being utterly defeated, he abdicated and retired to the Himālaya. The two met again after an interval and fought in single combat. Viswāmitra was again worsted by the Brāhmāṇical power, and “resolved to work out his own elevation to the Brāhmāṇical order,” so as to be upon an equality with his rival. He accomplished his object and became a priest, and Vasishṭha suffered from his power. The hundred sons of Vasishṭha denounced Viswāmitra for presuming, though a Kshatriya, to act as a priest. This so incensed Viswāmitra that he “by a curse doomed the sons of Vasishṭha to be reduced to ashes and reborn as degraded outcasts for seven hundred births.” Eventually, “Vasishṭha, being propitiated by the gods, became reconciled to Viswāmitra, and recognised his claim to all the prerogatives of a Brāhman Rishi, and Viswāmitra paid all honour to Vasishṭha.