Vasistha
Encyclopedia
Vashist
Vashist ' onMouseout='HidePop("99638")' href="/topics/Thai_language">Thai
Thai language
Thai , also known as Central Thai and Siamese, is the national and official language of Thailand and the native language of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member of the Tai group of the Tai–Kadai language family. Historical linguists have been unable to definitively...

: Vasit. in Hindu mythology
Hindu mythology
Hindu religious literature is the large body of traditional narratives related to Hinduism, notably as contained in Sanskrit literature, such as the Sanskrit epics and the Puranas. As such, it is a subset of Nepali and Indian culture...

 is one of the Saptarishis (Seven Great Sages Rishi
Rishi
Rishi denotes the composers of Vedic hymns. However, according to post-Vedic tradition, the rishi is a "seer" to whom the Vedas were "originally revealed" through states of higher consciousness. The rishis were prominent when Vedic Hinduism took shape, as far back as some three thousand years...

) in the seventh, i.e the present Manvantara
Manvantara
Manvantara or Manuvantara , or age of a Manu , the Hindu progenitor of mankind, is an astronomical period of time measurement. Manvantara is a Sanskrit sandhi, a combination of words manu and antara, manu-antara or manvantara, literally meaning the duration of a Manu, or his life span .Each...

, and the Rajpurohit
Rajpurohit
Rajpurohit is a subgroup of Hindu Brahmins with its roots in Rishikul and later Brahaminical Gupta period in India....

 / Rajguru of the Suryavansha
Suryavansha
The Sooryavamsham or Suryavansh or Suryavamsa or Sun Dynasty or Solar Dynasty was one of the most prominent dynasties in the mythical history of India, along with the "Chandra-vaṃśa" or Lunar Dynasty.-Introduction:...

 or Solar Dynasty. He was the mānasaputra ("mind son") of Brahma
Brahma
Brahma is the Hindu god of creation and one of the Trimurti, the others being Vishnu and Shiva. According to the Brahma Purana, he is the father of Mānu, and from Mānu all human beings are descended. In the Ramayana and the...

. He had in his possession the divine cow Kamadhenu
Kamadhenu
Kamadhenu , also known as Surabhi , is a divine bovine-goddess described in Hindu mythology as the mother of all cows. She is a miraculous "cow of plenty" who provides her owner whatever he desires and is often portrayed as the mother of other cattle as well as the eleven Rudras...

, and Nandini
Nandini
In Sanskrit, it means daughter.It is generally used as a first name for girls.The root, nand, refers to delight, pleasure, enjoyment. The Sanskrit word nadana...

 her child, who could grant anything to their owners. Arundhati
Arundhati (mythology)
Arundhati is the wife of the sage Vashishta, one of the seven sages who are identified with the Ursa Major. She is identified with the morning star and also with the star Alcor which forms a double star with Mizar in Ursa Major...

 is the name of the wife of Vashista.

Vashista one of 9 Prajapati
Prajapati
In Hinduism, Prajapati "lord of creatures" is a Hindu deity presiding over procreation, and protector of life. He appears as a creator deity or supreme God Viswakarma Vedic deities in RV 10 and in Brahmana literature...

s is credited as the chief author of Mandala 7
Mandala 7
The seventh Mandala of the Rigveda has 104 hymns. In the Rigveda Anukramani, all hymns in this book are attributed to Vasishta...

 of the Rigveda
Rigveda
The Rigveda is an ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns...

. Vashista and his family are glorified in RV 7.33, extolling their role in the Battle of the Ten Kings
Battle of the Ten Kings
Battle of the Ten Kings is a battle alluded to in Mandala 7 of the Rigveda , the ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns. It is a battle between Aryans...

, making him the only mortal besides Bhava
Bhava (king)
Bhava or Bhavayavya was a king who lived on the banks of the Indus, eulogized in RV 1.126. His son Savanya or Bhavya is the subject of 1.125, where he has a discussion with a wandering priest. The two hymns are among the very few dedicated to mortals in the Rigveda....

 to have a Rigvedic hymn dedicated to him. Another treatise attributed by him is "Vashista Samhita" - a book on Vedic system of electional astrology.

Tales featuring Vashista

Vashista is featured in many tales and folklore, a few of which are briefly described below. In the Ramayana
Ramayana
The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...

Vashista appears as the court sage of king Dasharatha.

The tale of Vashista

Sage Vashista was Ram's guru and the Rajpurohit
Rajpurohit
Rajpurohit is a subgroup of Hindu Brahmins with its roots in Rishikul and later Brahaminical Gupta period in India....

 of Ikshwaku
Ikshwaku
Ikshwakus were a mythical dynasty of rulers of ancient India, which branched out from the Solar Dynasty. They ruled from the Kosala Kingdom with Ayodhya as their capital. The two Indian epics, viz. Ramayana and Mahabharata have numerous mentions of this dynasty. The most famous among all the...

 dynasty. He was a peace-loving, selfless, intelligent and great Rishi. He had established Gurukula (residential college) on the banks of the river beas
Beas River
The Beas River is a river in the northern part of India. The river rises in the Himalayas in central Himachal Pradesh, India, and flows for some 470 km to the Sutlej River in the Indian state of Punjab....

, where he and his wife Arundhati were taking care of thousands of students.

Vashista was the Sadguru of his time, possessing 20 "kala's" (divine arts) and had complete knowledge of the whole cosmos and the god. Many of his Shlokas are found in Vedas as well.

Vashista possessed a cow named Kamadhenu
Kamadhenu
Kamadhenu , also known as Surabhi , is a divine bovine-goddess described in Hindu mythology as the mother of all cows. She is a miraculous "cow of plenty" who provides her owner whatever he desires and is often portrayed as the mother of other cattle as well as the eleven Rudras...

 or Nandini
Nandini
In Sanskrit, it means daughter.It is generally used as a first name for girls.The root, nand, refers to delight, pleasure, enjoyment. The Sanskrit word nadana...

 who could instantly produce food enough for a whole army. The king Kaushika (later called Vishwamitra), who visited Vashista's hermitage
Hermitage
Hermitage may refer to:*Hermitage , hermit's dwelling place, a place of relaxing retreat*4758 Hermitage, asteroid-Grapes:* Syrah in Australia* Cinsaut or Cinsault in South Africa and parts of Europe* Marsanne...

, was very impressed with the cow and tried to take it away from Vashista by force, but Kamadhenu/Nandini's spiritual power was too great for him.

After being unable to conquer Kamadhenu/Nandini, Vishwamitra decided to acquire power himself through penance like Vashista. He gained much power and many divine weapons from Shiva
Shiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...

. Once again he attempted to conquer Kamadhenu/Nandini. But even the divine weapons he acquired could not defeat the power of Kamadhenu/Nandini.

Vishwamitra finally decided to become a Brahmarishi himself, he renounced all his possessions and luxury and led the life of a simple forest ascetic.

The tale of King Dileepa

King Dileepa
Dileepa
Dilīpa in Hindu mythology is said to have been one of the most righteous and chivalrous emperors that the Solar Dynasty or the Ikshvaku dynasty, had ever produced. He was childless for a long time. In the matter of begetting an heir, he took the advice of Vasishta...

 or Dilip
Dilip
Dilip may refer to:* Dilip: King in Hindu mythology* Dilip Rayamajhi, Nepali actor* Dilip Kumar, Indian actor* Dilip Chhabria, Indian automobile designer* Dilip Chitre, Indian writer and critic* Dilip D'Souza, Indian writer and journalist...

 was a king of the Raghuvamsha dynasty. He had a wife named Sudakshina, but they had no children. For this reason, Dileepa visited the sage Vashista in his ashram
Ashram
Traditionally, an ashram is a spiritual hermitage. Additionally, today the term ashram often denotes a locus of Indian cultural activity such as yoga, music study or religious instruction, the moral equivalent of a studio or dojo....

, and asked him for his advice. Vashista replied that they should serve the cow Nandini
Nandini
In Sanskrit, it means daughter.It is generally used as a first name for girls.The root, nand, refers to delight, pleasure, enjoyment. The Sanskrit word nadana...

, child of Kamadhenu
Kamadhenu
Kamadhenu , also known as Surabhi , is a divine bovine-goddess described in Hindu mythology as the mother of all cows. She is a miraculous "cow of plenty" who provides her owner whatever he desires and is often portrayed as the mother of other cattle as well as the eleven Rudras...

, and perhaps if Nandini was happy with their service, she would bless them with a child. So, according to Vashista, Dileepa served Nandini every day, and attended to her every need for twenty-one days. On the twenty-first day, a lion attacks Nandini. Dileepa immediately draws his bow and tries to shoot the lion. But he finds that his arm is paralysed and cannot move. He reasons that the lion must have some sort of divine power. As if to confirm this, the lion started to speak to him. It said that Dileepa had no chance of saving the cow because the cow was the lion's chosen meal. The lion tells Dileepa to return to Vashista's ashram
Ashram
Traditionally, an ashram is a spiritual hermitage. Additionally, today the term ashram often denotes a locus of Indian cultural activity such as yoga, music study or religious instruction, the moral equivalent of a studio or dojo....

. Dileepa replies by asking if the lion would let Nandini go if he offered himself in Nandini's place. The lion agreed and Dileepa sacrificed his life for the cow. But then the lion mysteriously disappeared. Nandini explained that the lion was just an illusion
Illusion
An illusion is a distortion of the senses, revealing how the brain normally organizes and interprets sensory stimulation. While illusions distort reality, they are generally shared by most people....

 to test Dileepa. Because Dileepa was truly selfless, Nandini granted him a son.

Yoga Vashista

Yoga Vashista is a religious text that was narrated by sage Vashista, one of the teachers of Rama
Rama
Rama or full name Ramachandra is considered to be the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian...

, and written by Valmiki
Valmiki
Valmiki is celebrated as the poet harbinger in Sanskrit literature. He is the author of the epic Ramayana, based on the attribution in the text of the epic itself. He is revered as the Adi Kavi, which means First Poet, for he discovered the first śloka i.e...

.

Context

Prince Rama returns from touring the country and becomes utterly disillusioned after experiencing the apparent reality of the world. This worries his father, King Dasaratha
Dasaratha
Dasharatha was a king of Ayodhya of the Ikshvaku dynasty whose life story is narrated principally in the Hindu epic Ramayana...

. The King expresses his concern to Sage Vashista, upon his arrival. Sage Vashista consoles the king by telling him that Rama's dispassion (vairagya
Vairagya
Vairāgya is a Sanskrit term used in Hindu philosophy that roughly translates as dispassion, detachment, or renunciation, in particular renunciation from the pains and pleasures in the material world...

) is a sign that the prince is now ready for spiritual enlightenment. He says that Rama has begun understanding profound spiritual truths, which is the cause of his confusion and he just needs confirmation. Sage Vashista asks king Dasaratha to summon Rama. Then, in the court of king Dasaratha, the sage begins the discourse to Rama which lasts for several days. The answer to Rama's questions forms the entire scripture that is Yoga Vashista.

Vashista Ashram

Brahmrishi Vashista had an Ashram in Ayodhya that was spread over 40 acres (161,874.4 m²) of land. Today all that remains of it is a small ashram in about one fourth of an acre of land. The ashram has within it a well that is believed to be the source of the river Saryu. Brahmarishi Vashista was the Guru
Guru
A guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...

 of the Solar Dynasty. The King at that time was King Ishvaku who was the king of Ayodhya. He was a noble king and thought of the well being of his subjects. He approached Sage Vashista telling him that the land had no water and requested him to do something to let the kingdom have adequate water. Sage Vashista performed a special prayer and the river Saryu is said to have started flowing from this well. Saryu is also known as Ishvaki and Vashisti. It is said that the well is connected underground with the river. Many spiritual people who visit this ashram find an enormous spiritual energy around this well. Some believe that this is one of the better spiritual tirth's in Bharat (India).

There is also another ashram past Rishikesh on the way to Kaudiyal on the Devprayag route that is known as Vashista Guha Ashram. The ashram itself is located on the banks of the River Ganges and it is a very beautiful place. It has a cave with a Shiv Ling
Lingam
The Lingam is a representation of the Hindu deity Shiva used for worship in temples....

 in it. The head of the ashram there is a monk of South Indian origin by the name of Swami Chetananda. There is also another small cave to the side facing the river.

Vashista head

A copper item representing a human head styled in the manner described for the Rigvedic Vashista has been dated to around 3700 B.C. in three western universities using among other tests carbon 14 tests, spectrographic analysis, X-ray
X-ray
X-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays and longer than gamma...

 dispersal analysis and metallography
Metallography
Metallography is the study of the physical structure and components of metals, typically using microscopy.Ceramic and polymeric materials may also be prepared using metallographic techniques, hence the terms ceramography, plastography and, collectively, materialography.-Preparing metallographic...

. This indicates that some Rigvedic customs were already known at a very early time. The head was not found in an archaeological context, as it was rescued from being melted down in Delhi.

See also

  • Vashista Temple
  • Ramayana
    Ramayana
    The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...

  • Yoga Vashishta - A Knol in English Rhyme

Literature

Selected verses, sorted by subject, in both Sanskrit and English text. Sanskrit and English text. Very short condensation.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK