Vashistha

Etymology

Vashistha is also spelled as Vasiṣṭha ( Malayalam: വശിഷ്ടൻ) Thai: Vasit, Tamil: வசிட்டர், Telugu: వశిష్ఠ). वसिष्ठ literally means most excellent , best or richest.

History

In Rigvedic hymn 7.33.9, Vasistha is described as a scholar who moved across the Indus river to establish his school. He was married to Arundhati, and therefore he was also called Arundhati Nath, meaning the husband of Arundhati. Vashistha is believed to have lived on the banks of Ganga in modern-day Uttarakhand. Later, this region is believed in the Indian tradition to be the abode of sage Vyasa along with Pandavas, the five brothers of Mahabharata. He is typically described in ancient and medieval Hindu texts as a sage with long flowing hairs that are neatly tied into a bun that is coiled with a tuft to the right, a beard, a handlebar moustache and a tilak on his forehead.

In Buddhist Pali canonical texts such as Digha Nikaya, Tevijja Sutta describes a discussion between the Buddha and Vedic scholars of his time. The Buddha names ten rishis, calls them "early sages" and makers of ancient verses that have been collected and chanted in his era, and among those ten rishi is Vasettha (the Pali spelling of Vashistha in Sanskrit).

Ideas

Vashistha is the author of the seventh book of the Rigveda, one of its "family books" and among the oldest layer of hymns in the Vedic scriptures of Hinduism. The hymns composed by Vashistha are dedicated to Agni, Indra and other gods, but according to RN Dandekar, in a book edited by Michael Witzel, these hymns are particularly significant for four Indravarunau hymns. These have an embedded message of transcending "all thoughts of bigotry", suggesting a realistic approach of mutual "coordination and harmony" between two rival religious ideas by abandoning disputed ideas from each and finding the complementary spiritual core in both. These hymns declare two gods, Indra and Varuna, as equally great. In another hymn, particularly the Rigvedic verse 8.83.9, Vashistha teaches that the Vedic gods Indra and Varuna are complementary and equally important because one vanquishes the evil by the defeat of enemies in battles, while other sustains the good during peace through socio-ethical laws. The seventh mandala of the Rigveda by Vashistha is a metaphorical treatise. Vashistha reappears as a character in Hindu texts, through its history, that explore conciliation between conflicting or opposing ideologies.

According to Ellison Findly – a professor of Religion, Vashista hymns in the Rigveda are among the most intriguing in many ways and influential. Vashistha emphasizes means to be as important as ends during one's life, encouraging truthfulness, devotion, optimism, family life, sharing one's prosperity with other members of society, among other cultural values.

Texts

Vashistha is a revered sage in the Hindu traditions, and like other revered sages, numerous treatises composed in ancient and medieval era are reverentially named after him. Some treatises named after him or attributed to him include:

Mythology

According to Agarwal, one mythical legend states that Vashistha wanted to commit suicide by falling into river Sarasvati. But the river prevented this sacrilege by splitting into hundreds of shallow channels. This story, states Agarwal, may have very ancient roots, where "the early man observed the braiding process of the Satluj" and because such a legend could not have invented without the residents observing an ancient river (in Rajasthan) drying up and its tributaries such as Sutlej reflowing to merge into Indus river.

The Vashistha Head

A copper casting of a human head styled in the manner described for Vashistha was discovered in 1958 in Delhi. This piece has been dated to around 3700 BCE, plus minus 800 years, in three western universities (ETH Zurich, Stanford and UC) using among other methods carbon-14 dating tests, spectrographic analysis, X-ray dispersal analysis and metallography. This piece is called "Vashistha head", because the features, hairstyle, tilak and other features of the casting resembles the description for Vashistha in Hindu texts.

The significance of "Vashistha head" is unclear because it was not found at an archaeological site, but in open Delhi market where it was scheduled to be remelted. Further the head had an inscription of "Narayana" suggesting that the item was produced in a much later millennium. The item, states Edwin Bryant, likely was re-cast and produced from an ancient pre-2800 BCE copper item that left significant traces of matter with the observed C-14 dating.

Vashistha Temples

There is an Ashram dedicated to Vashistha in Guwahati, India. This Ashram is situated close to Assam-Meghalaya border to the south of Guwahati city and is a major tourist attraction of Guwahati. Vashistha Temple is situated in Vashisht village, Himachal Pradesh. Vashistha Cave, a cave on the banks of Ganges River at Shivpuri, 18 km from Rishikesh is also locally believed to be his winter abode and houses a Shiva temple, also near by is Arundhati Cave.

Guru Vashistha is also the primary deity at Arattupuzha Temple known as Arattupuzha Sree Dharmasastha in Arattupuzha village in Thrissur district of Kerala. The famous Arattupuzha Pooram is a yearly celebration where Sri Rama comes from the Thriprayar Temple to pay obeisance to his Guru at Arattupuzha temple.