Story Of Brahmarishi Vishwamitra

Brahma Rishi Vishwamitra is one of the most respected and celebrated rishis of ancient India. A divine being of sorts, he is also accredited as the author of the most of Mandala 3 of the Rig Veda and also the author of the most sacred mantra, Gayatri Mantra. The Puranas talk of only 24 rishis since the beginning of time who have understood the actual meaning and have wielded the power of the Gayatri Mantra. Vishwamitra is considered to be the first among them. The story of Vishwamitra also features in the Valmiki Ramayana. In the Valmiki Ramayana, prose 51 of Balakand starts with his tale. Brahma Rishi Vishwamitra was originally a king called Kaushika. He was a descendant of the king Kushanabha who belonged to the Amavasu dynasty. He was the grandson of Gadhi and the great-grandson of Kushanabha. Being the Chandravanshi king of Kanyakubja, he was a valiant warrior and a kshatriya by birth. The story of Vishwamitra's birth goes like this. Once, the son of Maharishi Bhrigu wanted to marry the daughter of Gadhi, Satyavati. Gadhi laid a condition that he will give his daughter's hand to the person who can bring a thousand white horses with one black ear. With his tapas, Ruchika, the son of Maharishi Bhrigu, went to Varunalok and bowed down to Lord Varuna to grant him one thousand white horses with one black ear. Ruchika was asked to bathe near the banks of Ganga in Kanyakubja. Upon doing so, when he came out of Ganga, he saw all the one thousand horses coming out of the river at Ashwathirtha. Ruchika gave these horses to King Gadhi and he gave his daughter in hand to Sage Ruchika. The couple lived happily. One day, Maharishi Bhrigu came to his son's house. His daughter-in-law Satyavati fed him and took care of him very well. Bhrigu was impressed and offered to give her a boon. Satyavati said that she was her father's only child and that he doesn't have a son to continue his lineage. So she requested for a strong warrior son for her mother who will rule and prosper her father's kingdom. She also requested for a dharmic son for herself who could follow in the steps of Maharishi Bhrigu himself. Maharishi Bhrigu was pleased with the request and performed the yajna. As a result of the yajna, he gave Satyavati two different plates of prasad, also known as havishya annam, meaning a food that is purified by yajna. He carefully told her which plate she should eat and the plate which her mother should eat. Satyavati's mother arrived and her daughter told her the story and gave the havishya annam to her mother. Later, Satyavati realized that she ate the wrong plate. Some versions say that Satyavati's mother secretly told her daughter to exchange the food with her. Realizing her mistake, she informed Bhrigu of what had happened. The rishi said, You will give birth to a man with kshatriya qualities, a great tapasvi who is invincible in war and your mother will give birth to a child who will become a great sage. He who is on par with chaturmukha brahma, who is the master of all mantras. Eventually, Satyavati's mother gave birth to Vishwamitra and Satyavati gave birth to Jamadagni, the father of Parashurama. Vishwamitra, while being born into the family of warriors, showed all traits of a brahmin from a very young age. Vishwamitra grew up to be a great warrior and succeeded when Gandhi gave up the throne. Vishwamitra, earlier known as Kaushika, eventually rejected his kshatriya duties and with his intense penance became a brahma rishi. The cause of this was his rivalry with sage Vasishtha. Back when Vishwamitra was Kaushika, he visited the ashram of Vasishtha once with his entire army. Vasishtha catered for the entire army with the aid of Kamadhenu, the wish-fulfilling cow. Kaushika wished to take the cow for the welfare of his kingdom and asked Vasishtha for Kamadhenu. But when Vasishtha refused, Kaushika tried to take Kamadhenu by force. Vasishtha, using tapas, defeated Kaushika and his entire army for the insolence. Nursing his wounds, Kaushika sought revenge. After pleasing Shiva and obtaining many powerful weapons, Kaushika challenged Vasishtha again. Filled with arrogance, he then went to Vasishtha's ashram and started using all of those powerful weapons to destroy the maharishi. He succeeded in killing the rishi's thousand sons but could do nothing to him. Enraged by all this, Vasishtha brought out his brahmadanda, a wooden stick imbued with the power of Brahma. It overwhelmed all of Vishwamitra's weapons, including his brahmastra. He then proceeded to attack Vishwamitra. However, the devas intervened to calm him down. Vishwamitra was humiliated and had to turn back. A calm Vasishtha returned to his hermitage to resume his meditation and other duties. There are several other stories that narrate when these two rishis faced problems with each other. Once, the king Trishanku of the Ikshavaku dynasty requested Vasishtha to enter the heaven while still in his mortal body and the sage disapproved of his idea. He then sought the help of Vasishtha's sons. The sage's sons too were furious upon hearing the king's words and refused to help him. They felt that the king had insulted their father by approaching them with a request that their father had already refused and cursed him to become a chandal. Trishanku was instantly transformed into a person with a body smeared with ash, clothed in black and wearing iron jewellery. Still adamant, he approached sage Vishwamitra, Vasishtha's rival, to fulfil his desire. As expected by the king, Vishwamitra comforted the distressed king and agreed to help him. He summoned his sons and asked them to prepare for a pious sacrifice. He also ordered his disciples to invite all the learned sages to his hermitage for the sacrifice. After a few days, his disciples returned, informing that all but Vasishtha's sons had accepted the invitation. Finally, the day of the sacrifice arrived and Vishwamitra officiated as its chief priest. After the completion of the sacrifice, Vishwamitra requested the devas to accept the offering and lead Trishanku to the heaven in his own body. None of the devas appeared even after a long wait. The sage was enraged. He turned to the king and declared that he would help Trishanku ascend to heaven without any help from the devas. As soon as Vishwamitra said those words, the king began to ascend towards heaven. However, when he reached heaven, Indra and the other devas barred his entry, stating that the king had been cursed to become a chandal by his teacher's sons. Thus, he could have no place in heaven. The devas also declared that Trishanku should fall to the depths of the earth. Confused and shocked, Trishanku began falling down and begged Vishwamitra to save him. Using his divine powers, Vishwamitra halted the king's fall mid-air. Enraged by this, Vishwamitra created a whole other universe, including another Brahma for Trishanku. He had just completed creating his universe when Brihaspati ordered him to stop. Trishanku, however, did not fully transcend to the other universe through the svarga that was created for him. So, he remained in a fixed upside-down position in the sky and was transformed into a constellation, which is now famous as the Crux. In the process of creating the Trishanku svarga, the rishi had used up all his powers. So, he had to start again to attain the status of Brahma rishi. Rishi Vishwamitra is also famous for getting distracted from his path of penance by the beauty of an apsara from Indralok. A beautiful apsara called Menaka was born during the Samudra Manthan. She was one of the most beautiful apsaras with a sharp mind and innate talent. She, however, was lonely and desired a family. At this time, Vishwamitra was one of the most powerful rishis on earth. This frightened the Devas, who felt that he had the potential to attack their position. So, they sent Menaka to earth in order to lure him and break his penance. Menaka succeeded in seducing him. As soon as he laid his eyes on her, he was filled with passion and lust and wanted her to be with him. Menaka herself fell deeply in love with Vishwamitra. Together, they had a baby girl named Shakuntala. Years later, Vishwamitra came to know about Menaka's original intentions of coming down to earth and meeting him. Feeling betrayed, he merely cursed her to be separated from him forever. The sage had also genuinely loved his wife, so he could never hurt her in any other way. A heartbroken Menaka went back to Indra's court and the rishi returned to his penance and austerities. After Menaka left, Vishwamitra went to the highest mountain of the Himalayas to perform even more severe penance for over thousand years. He stopped eating or drinking water and even reduced his breathing to the minimum possible level. Indra became even more insecure and decided to test him once again. He took the form of a poor brahmin, begging for food. At that time, Kaushika was just about to break his fast of thousands of years by eating some rice. Upon seeing the poor brahmin, Kaushika instantly gave him his food and resumed his meditation. Thus, he finally mastered all his five senses. After several thousand years of penance, Kaushika's yogic power was at its peak. At this point, Lord Brahma manifested before him and gave him the title of a brahma rishi. He also got the name Vishwamitra, which means the friend of the whole world. Vishwamitra then went to meet Vashistha. Initially, Vishwamitra greeted Vashistha with some pride, but Vashistha merely blessed him. Suddenly, all the pride left his heart and he became a clean and pure brahma rishi. When Vishwamitra turned to leave, Vashistha too realized the change that had occurred in him. He immediately proceeded to greet him warmly. Vishwamitra too embraced Vashistha, thereby instantly ending their long feud. Later in his life, in the Ramayana, Vishwamitra becomes the guru of Rama, the seventh avatar of Lord Vishnu and the prince of Ayodhya and his brother Lakshman when they set out to kill the demoness Tadaka. He gave them the knowledge of devastra and guides them to help them kill powerful asuras such as Tadaka, Maricha and Subahu. He also led them to the swayambar ceremony of Sita, where Rama broke the vow of Shiva, thus winning Sita's hand in marriage. Brahmins belonging to the Kaushika or Vishwamitra gothra are descendants of the brahma rishi. This is one of the most respected gothras amongst the brahmins. There is a temple dedicated to the worship of Vishwamitra called Sri Aabattisaheshwarar in Alangudi, Tanjavur, Tamil Nadu.