A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.2011

c5.2011

“It is clear that Vasishtha, although he is frequently designated in post-vedic writings as a Brāhman, was, according to some authorities, not really such in any proper sense of the word, as in the accounts which are given of his birth he is declared to have been either a mind-born son of Brahmā, or the son of Mitra and Varuna and the Apsaras Urvasī, or to have had some other supernatural origin” (Muir, i. 337). Vasishtha’s descendants are called Vāsishthas and Vāshkalas.