Legacies · Vedic Rishis & Itihasa
Maharshi Vashishtha, the Brahmarshi.
महर्षि वसिष्ठ · ब्रह्मर्षि
Seer of the seventh book of the Rigveda, and guru to the kings of Ayodhya, Shri Rama among them.
Brahmarshi, one of the Saptarishi
Rigveda, Mandala 7
the Ikshvaku kings of Ayodhya
Devi Arundhati
The seer of Mandala 7
A family of Vedic poets.
Most hymns of the Rigveda's seventh book are handed down under the name of Vashishtha and his family, the Vasishthas. The same hymns name them as the priests of King Sudas. Among these hymns is a mantra recited in Indian homes to this day.
त्र्यम्बकं यजामहे सुगन्धिं पुष्टिवर्धनम्।
उर्वारुकमिव बन्धनान्मृत्योर्मुक्षीय माऽमृतात्॥
tryambakaṁ yajāmahe sugandhiṁ puṣṭi-vardhanam |
urvārukam iva bandhanān mṛtyor mukṣīya mā 'mṛtāt ||
हम तीन नेत्रों वाले त्र्यम्बक की उपासना करते हैं, जो सुगंध से भरे हैं और जीवन को पुष्ट करते हैं।
जैसे पकी ककड़ी अपनी बेल से सहज छूट जाती है, वैसे ही हम मृत्यु के बंधन से छूटें, अमृत से नहीं।
“We worship Tryambaka, the three-eyed one, fragrant, who makes life grow strong. As a ripe cucumber comes free of its vine, may we be freed from death, and never from immortality.”
Rigveda 7.59.12 · Mahamrityunjaya mantra
Guru of Ayodhya
The kulaguru of the Raghu line.
In the Ramayana, Vashishtha is the family priest and guru of the Ikshvaku kings. He guides King Dasharatha, and he teaches the four princes, Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata and Shatrughna. When Rama returns from exile, it is Vashishtha who leads his coronation.
A much later work, the Yoga Vasishtha, is framed as his long teaching to the young Rama on the nature of the mind. Tradition carries it under his name.
Vashishtha and Vishvamitra
A rival he came to honour.
The Ramayana tells how King Vishvamitra once visited Vashishtha's ashram and wanted his wish-granting cow. Vashishtha would not give her up, and the king's force could not take her. Vishvamitra turned instead to years of tapas. When that tapas was complete, Vashishtha, his old rival, was the one who greeted him as a Brahmarshi.
His legacy today
What comes down to us.
Mandala 7
Over a hundred hymns of the Rigveda come down to us through his family line.
Mahamrityunjaya
His mandala holds the mantra chanted for health and long life across India.
Arundhati darshan
At a Hindu wedding the couple is shown the star Arundhati beside Vashishtha in the Saptarishi, a sign of a faithful marriage.
Why he is in Vipra Gaurav
The Rigveda names Vashishtha and his family as priests (7.18, 7.33), and the Ramayana calls him the purohita of the Ikshvakus and a Brahmarshi. His Brahmin standing rests on these two sources. The verse is printed in the original Sanskrit, Rigveda 7.59.12; the meanings and text are written by IBF. The Yoga Vasishtha is a later work and is marked as such.