Vasishṭha’s Grief and the Birth of Parāśara

This account is told in the Chaitraratha Parva of the Mahābhārata. The king Kalmāshapāda, possessed by a rākshasa, killed all one hundred sons of Vasishṭha, beginning with the eldest, Śakti. Vasishṭha was swallowed by grief and tried several times to end his life, but each time he was kept safe. The rivers Śatadru and Vipāśā got their names from these attempts. Then Śakti’s wife Adṛśyantī, who had carried Śakti’s child for twelve years, was heard reciting the Vedas from the womb, and Vasishṭha came back to himself. The child was born and named Parāśara.

The death of one hundred sons

The rākshasa that had entered King Kalmāshapāda (also called Saudāsa and Mitrasaha) was a Kinkara rākshasa. Viśvāmitra had set it on the king out of enmity. Under its power, Kalmāshapāda met Śakti, the eldest son of Vasishṭha, on a narrow forest path, and killed and ate him. After this the rākshasa drove the king to eat Vasishṭha’s remaining sons one by one. All one hundred were killed, and none was left.

The grief that fell on Vasishṭha was beyond ordinary words.

The attempts to end his life

Vasishṭha wandered through the forest in deep anguish, looking for death. He tried to destroy himself several times, and each time he was kept safe.

  1. He entered a great fire. The fire would not burn him. It spread cool and harmless around the great ṛshi, whose tapas (austerity) had put him beyond the reach of any flame.
  2. He climbed to the summit of Mount Meru and threw himself down. The sharp rocks below turned soft as cotton at his touch and let him down gently.
  3. He entered the ocean and plunged toward the deep. The waves caught him and set him back on the shore, alive and unharmed.
  4. He tried to drown himself in a river swollen with flood. The river could not touch him. It broke apart and ran away in a hundred streams. From this the river got the name Śatadru (the hundred-channelled one).
  5. He walked into another river after tying himself with ropes. The ropes fell loose, and the river set him gently on its bank, freeing him against his wish. From this loosening the river got the name Vipāśā (free of bonds).

Adṛśyantī and the voice in the womb

All this time Adṛśyantī, the wife of the slain Śakti and the daughter-in-law of Vasishṭha, walked beside the ṛshi in his grief. She had carried Śakti’s child in her womb for twelve years. The child was great in power and in knowledge of the Vedas, and he had recited the Vedas from within the womb through all those years. The sound of Vedic recitation was always with Adṛśyantī.

As Vasishṭha wandered in his grief, she heard a clear voice reciting the Vedas. It was the voice of the child not yet born, and it sounded like Śakti’s own voice. When Vasishṭha heard it, he thought for a moment that Śakti had come back. Then he understood that it was Śakti’s son, still unborn, but already a complete scholar of the Vedas.

Hearing this voice, and knowing that his son’s life was alive and growing, Vasishṭha came back to his senses. He gave up his wish to die.

The birth and naming of Parāśara

Soon after, Adṛśyantī gave birth to the child, a boy of bright appearance and great inborn power. Vasishṭha performed the saṃskāras (rites of passage) for him. The child was named Parāśara.

Parāśara grew up in Vasishṭha’s āśrama and learned from his grandfather. He became a great maharshi in his own right. He was the father of Vyāsa by Satyavatī, and a main bearer of Vedic and Purāṇic knowledge.

Sources

  • Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva (Chaitraratha Parva), Chapter 176
  • Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva (Chaitraratha Parva), Chapter 177