Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c9.4780

c9.4780

15). Viśvāmitra and Ṛgveda. Ṛgveda, Maṇḍala 5, was composed by the Viśvāmitra-family. Variations are observed in the two versions of statements about Viśvāmitra, occurring in Ṛgveda and the Purāṇas. The confrontations between Vasiṣṭha and Viśvāmitra occur in Ṛgveda also. The last four sections of Sūkta 15 of Ṛgveda, Maṇḍala 3, Anuvāka 4, are meant to scold Vasiṣṭha. Here Viśvāmitra curses Vasiṣṭha's family in various ways. In the 'Annotations of Sāyaṇa', mention is made that the disciples of Vasiṣṭha freed Viśvāmitra from the vow of silence, and that instantly these mantras (chants) dawned in his mind. Though the enmity between Vasiṣṭha and Viśvāmitra is seen in Ṛgveda, such elaborate stories as seen in the Purāṇas do not occur in Ṛgveda. But Viśvāmitra procured a prominent place in Ṛgveda because this hermit rescued Sudāsa from danger and forded him across rivers, and took Śunaśsepha as his son. Of these two incidents the first is not given much importance in the Purāṇas. Though the second one occurs in the Purāṇas, the version is different from that of Ṛgveda. From this it is presumed that the stories taken from Ṛgveda underwent a thorough change before they appeared in the Purāṇas.