Dhammapada

SR No.: 007674
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Max Muller
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1881
Total Pages: 2540
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 45 MB

Page 1726

xii
VASISHTHA.
expression to the devotion felt by the author for the Rishi, 'Adoration to Vasishtha, Satayâtu, the son of Mitra and Varuna and of Urvasî.' The epithets used in this last passage conclusively show that the Vasishtha after whom the Dharma-sútra is named, is the individual who, according to the Brâhmanical tradition, is the Rishi of a large portion of the seventh Mandala of the Rig-veda and the progenitor of the Vâsishtha clan of Brâhmans, and who in some hymns of the Rig-veda appears as the purohita or domestic priest of king Sudas and the rival of Visvâmitra, and in other Suktas as a half mythical being. For the verses Rig-veda VII, 33, 11-14 trace the origin of this Vasishtha to the two sons of Aditi, Mitra and Varuna, and to the Apsaras Urvasî, and contain the outline of the curious, but disgusting story of his marvellous birth, which Sâyana narrates more circumstantially in the commentary on verse 11. Moreover, the word Satayâtu, which in the Dharma-sútra is used as an epithet of Vasishtha, occurs Rig-veda VII, 18, 21 in close connexion with the Rishi's name. Sâyana explains it in his commentary on the latter passage as 'the destroyer of many demons,'or,'he whom many demons seek to destroy,' and takes it as an epithet of the sage Parâsara, who is named together with Vasishtha. It would, however, seem that, if the verse is construed on strictly philological principles, neither Sâyana's interpretation, nor that suggested by the Dharma-sútra can be accepted, and that Satayâtu has to be taken as a proper namel. But, however that may be, it is not doubtful that we may safely infer from the expressions used in the last sentence of the Dharma-sútra, that the Vasishtha to whom the invocation is addressed and the composition of the work is ascribed, either immediately or through the medium of pupils, is the individual named in the Rig-veda. The connexion of the Dharma-sútra with one of the Rishis of the Rig-veda which is thus established, possesses a particular interest and importance, because it corroborates the statement of Govindasvâmin, the commentator of Baudhâyana, that the Institutes of Vasishtha were
See Petersburg Dictionary, s. v, satayâtu.
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