CHAPTER VII.

VEDIC RISHIS.

WE have stated in the last chapter that certain pious and learned families obtained pre-eminence in the Vedic Period by their knowledge of performing religious sacrifices and their gift of composing hymns; that kings and wealthy lords delighted to honor and reward these families; and that it is to them that the Aryan world is indebted for handing down the Vedic hymns. from generation to generation. Modern Hindus take a pride in tracing their descent from these ancient families, and their names are a household word in modern Hindu society. Some account of these ancient Rishis, the revered pioneers of Hindu religion,—will therefore not be unwelcome to Hindu readers.

Pre-eminent among the Vedic Rishis, or rather Rishi families, stand the Visvâmitras and the Vasishthas. The learned and industrious scholar Dr. Muir has, in the first volume of his Sanscrit Texts, collected many legends about these Rishis from later Sanscrit literature; but there is no Hindu who has not read in books or heard from his boyhood, innumerable legends of this kind, connected with those revered names.

R. C. D., A. I.

ΙΟ

The Vasishthas and the Visvamitras

were both

The hymns

honored by the powerful conqueror, Sudâs. of the third mandala are ascribed to the Visvamitras, and in the 53rd hymn we find the following passage: "The great god born, god commissioned Rishi, the beholder of men, has stayed the watery current. When Visvamitra sacrificed for Sudâs, then Indra was propitiated through the Kausikas." Again, the hymns of the seventh mandala are ascribed to the Vasishthas, and in the 33rd hymn we find the following passage: "The Vasishthas in white robes, with their hair knots on the right, devoted to sacred rites, have gladdened me. Rising up, I call the people round the sacrificial Let not the Vasishthas depart from my door." grass. And in the celebrated 83rd hymn we find the well known passage: "Ye, O Indra and Varuna, have succoured Sudâs, when hemmed in on every side in the combat of the ten kings, where the white robed Tritsus with braided hair adored you reverently with prayers."

There was naturally some jealousy between these two priestly houses, and hard words were exchanged. The following verses in III, 53, are said to contain an imprecation against the Vasishthas :

"21. Indra, approach us to-day with many excellent succour be propitious to us. May he who hates us fall low; and let the breath of life forsake him whom we hate.

22.

As the tree suffers from the axe; as the Simbala flower is broken; as the cauldron boiling over casts forth foam; so may the enemy, O Indra.

"23. The might of the destroyer is not perceived. Men lead away the Rishi as if he were a beast. The wise do not condescend to ridicule the fool. They do not lead the ass before the horse.

"24. These sons of Bhârata have learnt to turn away from, not to associate with (the Vasishthas). They urge the horse against them as against a foe. They bear about the bow in battle."

Two other verses in the same hymn are also supposed to refer to the same hostility between the two families, though no imprecation is apparent in them.

“15. The daughter of the sun, given by Jamadagni, everywhere diffusing herself and removing darkness, has produced a great sound, and has conveyed imperishable food for the gods.

"16. May she, everywhere diffusing herself, speedily supply abundant food to these men of the five tribes,— she, the daughter of the sun, possessing new life, and given by Jamadagni to me."

Vasishtha is supposed to have hurled back the imprecations in the following verses of VII, 104:

"13. Soma does not bless the wicked nor the ruler who abuses his power. He slays the demon; he slays the untruthful man; both are bound by the fetters of Indra.

14. If I had worshipped false gods, or if I had called upon the gods in vain,—but why art thou angry with me O Jâtavedas? May vain talkers fall into thy destruction.

"15. May I die at

once if I be a Yâtudhana, or if

I hurt the life of any man.

But may I be cut off from

his ten friends who falsely called me a Yâtudhana.

"16. He who called me a Yâtudhana, when I am not so, or who said I am a bright devil,—may Indra strike him down with his great weapon, may he fall the lowest of all beings."

So far the jealousy of the two angry priests is intelligible and even natural, however unbecoming of their great learning and sanctity. But when we proceed from the Rig Veda to later Sanscrit literature, incidents which are human and natural become lost in a cloud of miraculous and monstrous legends.

It is assumed from the commencement in these later legends that Vasishtha was a Brâhman and Visvâmitra was a Kshatriya, although the Rig Veda justifies no such assumption and knows no Brâhmans and Kshatriyas as castes. On the contrary, Visvâmitra is the composer of some of the finest hymns cherished by later Brâhmans, including the sacred Gâyatrî or the sacred morning prayer of modern Brâhmans.

Having assumed that Visvâmitra was born a Kshatriya, the Mahâbhârata, the Harivansa, the Vishnu Purâna, and other later works repeat an amusing story to

account for the sage's attaining Brâhmanhood. Satyavati, a Kshatriya girl, had been married to Richika, a Brâhman. Richîka prepared a dish for his wife, which would make her conceive a son with the qualities of a Brâhman, and another dish for his mother-in-law (a Kshatriya's wife) which would make her conceive a son with the qualities of a Kshatriya. The two ladies however exchanged dishes; and so the Kshatriyanî conceived and bore Visvamitra with the qualities of a Brâhman, and the Brâhman's wife Satyavatî bore Jamadagni, whose son, the fiery Parasurâma, though a Brâhman, became a renowned and destructive warrior! Such were the childish stories which the later writers had to invent to remove the difficulty they had created for themselves by assuming that Vedic Rishis belonged to particular castes!

But the Vedic account of the jealousy between Vasishtha and Visvâmitra has led to wilder legends. A legend is told in the Râmâyana and the Mahâbhârata that Visvamitra, a king's son, went out hunting and came to the hermitage of Vasishtha. He was received with honor and entertained with delicious food and drink, and presented with precious jewels and dresses, all obtained by the sage from his wonder-working cow! The prince coveted this wonderful cow, and failing to persuade the Brâhman to relinquish it, wished to take it by force. But the might of the Kshatriya was unavailing against the power of the Brâhman; and the humbled