The greatness of Vishwamitra as narrated by Shatananda to Rama - Chapter 20

In the previous chapter we saw about the ashram that Rama and vishvamitra passed on to Mithila, Now we'll see about the greatness of vishvamitra from the perspective of shatananda.

Shatananda told Rama that he was very fortunate to be in the company of Vishwamitra who was a great rishi and that he wished to tell Rama and the others to present some details about

Raja rishi Vishwamitra. I would focus only on some less known and interesting details as most of the story of Vishwamitra is well known.

Vishwamitra was a great king and ruled his subjects so well. As already mentioned he was the son of Gaadi who was the son of Kushanabha. Once he visited Vashishtha's hermitage and he was well treated by him. Vashishtha wanted to honor his distinguished guest and wanted to give him and his entourage a big feast. Vishwamitra did not want Vashishtha to take such trouble but upon his insistence agreed. Vashishtha appealed to Kamadhenu the cow to provide a sumptuous dinner to all. To Vishwamitra's surprise, they were all served a sumptuous dinner. Valmiki gives a detailed and interesting description of the various food. items and drinks. Vishwamitra's army was greatly pleased. Vishwamitra thanked Vashishtha profusely and asked Vashishtha to give him Kamadhenu and in place, he said he would offer him thousands of cows. He also said that only a king needed such a special cow as Kamadhenu more than a hermit. Vashishtha explained his inability to part with her and as usual, Vishwamitra tried to take it by force and there ensued a great battle. However, Vashishtha by the power of his penance nullified all the efforts of Vishwamitra. Vishwamitra became helpless and realized the great power of penance. He was completely broken and decided to go to the forest and do penance after leaving his kingdom to his son. After doing penance for years Lord Shiva was pleased with him and asked him what he wanted. Vishwamitra requested Lord Shiva to teach him the science of Archery (Dhanurveda) and teach him about various Astras. Lord Shiva blessed him with various Astras.

So Vishwamitra came again to fight with Vashishtha and sent the various Astras on him. But Vashishtha using his Brahmadanda destroyed all of them. Some of the special Astras used by Vishwamitra were, Manavastra, Swapanastra (puts one to sleep), and Madanastra (it makes one swoon). Shoshanastra (it dries up everything) Vajrastra, which is the most powerful, and so on. But nothing was effective in front of the Brahmadanda of Vashishtha. Finally, Vishwamitra used the most dreadful Brahmastra and all the worlds trembled. However, Vashishtha by the power of his penance just swallowed it using his Brahmadanda. He glowed so brightly and the three worlds wondered at his power. They all prayed to Vashishtha to calm down.

Vishwamitra whose pride was hurt learned the value of penance and decided to go back and do penance again and control all his senses, Brahma was pleased with his penance and called him "Raja rishi".

Shatananda continued to tell Rama about Vishwamitra. He narrated the incident of Trishanku who was a very famous Ikshvaku king. He wanted to ascend to the Heavens along with his body and hence wanted to perform a suitable Yajnya. He asked Vashishtha his Guru but he refused. He requested Vashishtha's hundred sons who not only refused but also cursed him and turned him into a chandala (a person who roams in the cremation ground living among the corps). Finally, he went and surrendered to Vishwamitra with a request to protect him. Vishwamitra took pity on him and took it as a challenge to send him to the Heavens in his own body. Vashishtha's sons condemned this but Vishwamitra got so angry that he cursed all of them and destroyed them. (Each time Vishwamitra became angry and cursed he lost some part of the benefits he had acquired by penance. This was not a good sign for a rishi).

Under the supervision of Vishwamitra hundreds of rishis performed the Yajnya. As Trishanku, who conducted the Yajnya had become a Chandala, the offerings made in the Yajnya were not acceptable to Devas so none of them came and blessed. Vishwamitra became very angry and challenged that if there was any power of his penance left in him then the king Trishanku should ascend to the Heavens. As the Raja Rishi spoke thus and as all the rishis there watched Trishanku started to ascend and reached the Heavens. However, Indra the head of Devas cursed Trishanku and made him fall back to the earth with his head down and feet up. Then Trishanku appealed to Vishwamitra to save him. The great rishi with his power commanded him to stop where he was and he remained mid-way between the Heavens and the Earth. He also created for him other star constellations and threatened the Devas that he would create another set of Devas and even another Indra as their head with his power of penance. As a compromise Indra let Trishanku be in between Heaven and the Earth.

Even now if someone is not in a clear situation he is said to be in the 'Trishanku Heaven'. Apart from this lighter side, it is believed that there could be another interpretation to the above story. Vishwamitra was a great astronomer too. He discovered several new constellations in the sky and added to the existing knowledge of Astronomy. From the text, it appears that he did penance in the southern part of the country and hence specialized in the southern portion of the skies. Towards the end, we find an explanation that Trishanku actually is in the constellation of Great Bear. But the fact that Vishwamitra also was a great astronomer is not known widely. He also had installed a calendar to count time. It is believed that he established what is known as Sapta Rishi Era. This constellation goes through all the 27 stars and it spends 100 years with each star. So in 2700 years, it completes one cycle. This was considered an era and was in vogue for a long time.

In my opinion, many such details which are vital for the modern mind were neglected by our people for a long time because the importance is laid only on the spiritual matters while one reads such texts.

To continue about Vishwamitra, he did penance again in order to gain what he had lost in all that had happened. There was an incident when King Ambareesha was performing his great Yajnya. The sacrificial cow was stolen and therefore it was necessary to sacrifice a young boy instead in order to compensate.

This is something we cannot justify at all. It is shocking, to say the least. In modern times even the sacrifice of a goat could raise a global protest whereas thousands of such animals are being slaughtered every day or perhaps every hour in the world to quench the hunger of people!

The young boy needed to be a Brahmin and also from a good family. The king found the family of rishi Rechaka with three sons. The eldest was the pet of the father and the last one the mother. So it fell to a lot of the middle ones to be sent for the sacrifice. He happened to be the nephew of Vishwamitra so the young boy sought this help. Vishwamitra took pity on the boy and asked his sons to go to be sacrificed instead. They said that they could not see any justice in that and so refused. Vishwamitra in his rage cursed them. We can see that Vishwamitra was quick in losing his temper which was not a virtue. So Vishwamitra taught the boy two mantras and asked him to go to the Yajnya to be sacrificed. But when the offering of the sacrifice started Indra was pleased with the mantras of the boy who appeared there and blessed the boy and also King Ambareesha. One can see the power of the mantras taught by Vishwamitra. Incidentally, it was Vishwamitra who invented the famous Gayatri Mantra used to pray to Sun.

Vishwamitra went to perform penance again and he did so for thousands of years. His penance was so powerful that the Devaloka trembled. They sent a very beautiful lady called Menaka and Vishwamitra lost his concentration and spent ten years happily with her. He then repented and went for penance again because he wanted to attain the supreme state and become Brahma Rishi as Vashishtha. Brahma told him that he was not yet ready as he had not gotten full control of his senses. Vishwamitra started doing a very hard penance. One apsara lady called Rambha was sent by the Devas to disturb him. But this time Vishwamitra knew what was happening and so he cursed her to become a stone. Of course, this anger of Vishwamitra again caused the loss of the power acquired by his penance. Finally, after a long time, Vishwamitra did succeed to please Lord Brahma who granted him the status of Brahma Rishi.

So even though Vishwamitra was born as a Kshatriya he was elevated to a Brahmin. This shows that one can justify his Varna (and not caste) only by his action. Vishwamitra was not yet satisfied and asked Brahma that he should be called a "Brahma Rishi" by Vashishtha and only then he would be satisfied. Vashishtha of course acknowledged Vishwamitra's perseverance and greatness.

Thus concluded Shatananda and told Rama that Vishwamitra was one of the greatest of rishis and they were fortunate to be honored by his presence in Mithila during the Yaga performed by Janaka.

In the next chapter, we will see how king janaka welcomes them to Mithila.