Sage Vriddha Vasishta

[Guest guest]

Sage Vriddha Vasishta

- Written by Sreenadh OG

 

As you

may all know Vasishta is a family or clan name (Gotra Nama) – as evident from

the fact that the Kula Gurus of all

the kings of Ishvaku dynasty (Sagara, Dileepa, Radhu, Dasaradha, Rama etc) were Vasishtas. From BC 3000 or so

numerous revered scholars might had the `Vasishta' designation assigned to the

head teacher of this knowledge tradition (Parampara). One of them is Vriddha

Vasishta – a recent one.

There are 2 books currently available

to us authored by this sage. They are –

1)

Vriddha

Vasishta Siddhanta

2)

Vriddha

Vasishta Samhita OR Jagan Mohana

In the text popularly known

as Vasishta Samhita, the sage tells us that –

 

Skandha dvayam vritta

vichitramarthagambheeramadavadhuna yaduktam

Tat samhita skandhamidam

triteeyam vakshye jaganmohana namadheyam

(Jagan Mohana, Chapter-1, Sloka-3)

[After speaking about the first 2 branches of

astrology, now I am speaking about the 3rd branch of astrology, in

this book called `Jagan Mohana']

From

this quote it is evident that this sage has already written 2 books on the 2

main branches of astrology – i.e. Siddhanta and Hora. And also that this 3rd

book he is writing is named `Jagan Mohana'. Let us tabulate this information –

1)

Viddha

Vasishta Siddhanta – This text is available

2)

Vriddha

Vasishta Hora – This text is not available

3)

Vriddha

Vasishta Samhita – This is the text to which Vasishta attributes the name

`Jagan Mohana'.

Why this 3rd text

is named `Jagan Mohana' by the author? The reasons could be many.

1)

The

Samhita Skanda deals with results that should be attributed to the world –

Mundane Astrology. It could be one of the reasons for this name `Jagan Mohana'

meaning `Attractive to the world'.

2)

It

is possible that the author's name was `Jagan Mohan' and his gotra name (family

name) Vasishta. If so, we may assume that the text Vasishta Samhita is written

by `Brahmarshi Jagan Mohana Vriddha Vasishta'.

The sage likes to be called

himself as `Brahmarshi Vriddha Vasishta' as evident from the fact that, all the

chapters in this text ends with the lines –

Iti sri brahmarshi vriddha

vasishta virachitam samhitayam XXX addyaya XXXX

[Thus the XXX chapter with XXX chapter number is

complete in the Samhita written by Sir Brahmarshi Vriddha Vasishta]

 

·

A

sage who wrote 3 texts – Vriddha Vasishta Sidhanta, Samhita, Hora; Out of which

2 texts are currently available.

·

A

sage (possibly) with the name `Jagan Mohana' and who would like to be called

`Sri Brahmarshi Vriddha Vasishta'.

All this info seems to be

quite interesting! The next natural question that may raise is – When did he

lived?

The text Jagan Mohana does

not provide much information regarding the same, except some references found

in chapter 11 Sloka 41 and 49. Both

these quotes refer to Saka system of year reckoning that starts from AD 78.

1)

Sakam

cha veda gunitam ............................ (Sloka 41)

2)

Sakadagni

hatananam ................................. (Sloka 41)

It is evident that a

reference to Saka system of year reckoning is possible only in a text written

after AD 78. Thus possibly, it can be safely assumed that Vriddha lived in 2nd

century or after.

Many mistake this `Jagan

Mohana Vriddha Vasishta' who lived around or after 2nd century AD

with the ancient Vasishta who wrote the ancient Vasishta Hora and Vasishta

Samhita, from which numerous quotes are available. Please note that numerous

quotes quoted by ancient scholars both from ancient Vasishta Hora and Vasishta

Samhita are NOT present in texts by Vriddha Vasishta. Also note that the good

scholars like Mihira, Kalyana Varma, Balabhadra etc does not give much

importance to this sage, evident from the fact they they never quoted him. But

later day texts like Brihat Daivajna Ranjana quotes extensively from Vriddha

Vasishta Samhita alias Jagan Mohana.

 

Sayana Zodiac of Vriddha Vasishta

Another important fact to be

noted is that Vriddha Vasishta uses `Sayana Tropical Zodiac' and NOT the

Nirayana Zodiac as evident from the following quote.

Makaradi rasi

shatkamudagayanam karkadadigam yamyam

Rasidvayarkabhogat

shadritavaH sisiradayaH kramasaH

(Jagan Mohana, Chapter-2,

Sloka-2)

[starting from Capricorn, 6 signs indicate Uttarayana

beginning with Sisira Ritu and starting from Cancer, 6 signs indicate

Dakshinayana (biginning with Varsha, raining season)]

Associating

fixed signs with changing seasons (changing due to the precession of equinox)

is essentially wrong. The above statement can be true if and only if Vriddha

Vasishta followed the Sayana Tropical Zodiac for which the signs such as

Capricorn starts from Winter Solstice. The above quote indicates that Vriddha

Vasishta (due to his lack of understanding or adherence) was a follower of

Sayana system and NOT the currently popular Nirayana system of astrology that

we follow.

 

Tail Piece:

It is cute to note that most

of the `Vriddhas' among ancient scholars are juniors to the others who bear the

same name. For example –

1)

Ancient

Garga lived around BC 1100 while `Vriddha Garga' lived around AD 250.

2)

Ancient

Vasishta might have lived around BC 3000 or so while the `Vriddha Vasishta'

(discussed above) lived around AD 200.

3)

Ancient

Yavanacharya and Spujidhvaja Yavanacharya lived prior to AD 270, while `Vriddha

Yavana' lived after that.

It is cute to note that all

`Vriddhas' are juniors, and the thought to be juniors are actually the reason

seniors!!!

- 0 -