Vasishtha’s Family Tree

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Family

• Brahma(parent),Agni(sibling),Angiras(sibling),Atri(sibling),Bhrigu(sibling),Daksha(sibling),Four Kumaras(sibling),Kamadeva(sibling),Kashyapa(sibling),Kratu(sibling),Marichi(sibling),Narada(sibling),Pulaha(sibling),Pulastya(sibling)— Miraculous

  Brahma willed the Prajapatis and sages into existence from his mind at the dawn of creation — Marichi, Atri, Angiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Vasishtha, Bhrigu, Daksha, Narada, Kamadeva, Agni, Kashyapa, Manu, and the Four Kumaras — each charged with populating and ordering the cosmos, though the Kumaras refused and chose eternal renunciation instead.

  ⚠ Lists of Brahma's manasaputras vary across Puranas. Vishnu Purana 1.7 lists the Saptarishis (Marichi, Atri, Angiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Vasishtha) plus Bhrigu and Daksha. Bhagavata Purana 3.12 adds Narada and the Kumaras. Kashyapa is listed as Marichi's son in Vishnu Purana 1.15 but appears as a direct manasaputra in other Puranic lists. Kamadeva's parentage varies between Brahma (Shiva Purana) and Vishnu or Dharma in other traditions.

Enemy of

• Vishwamitra

  Vishwamitra arrived at Vasishtha's ashram as a conquering king and demanded the wish-granting cow Kamadhenu, but Vasishtha's cow routed his entire army with warriors born from her milk — a humiliation that drove Vishwamitra to renounce kingship, undertake millennia of tapas, and wage a generations-long rivalry with the brahmarishi who had effortlessly defeated him.

Member of

• Saptarishis

  The Saptarishis — Marichi, Atri, Angiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, and Vasishtha — are the seven mind-born sages of Brahma who preserve the Vedas and guide humanity through each cosmic age, their forms set among the stars as the constellation of the Great Bear.

  ⚠ Puranic lists of the Seven Sages vary: Vishnu Purana 1.7 gives Marichi, Atri, Angiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Vasishtha. Other recensions substitute Kashyapa or Bhrigu for one of the standard seven. The roster also changes across different Manvantaras.

Associated with

• Dasharatha

  Vasishtha counseled Dasharatha to perform the Putrakameshti sacrifice to obtain sons, and later persuaded the reluctant king to release young Rama into Vishwamitra's care for the protection of the sage's rituals.

• Dyaus Pita

  Dyaus Pita, urged by his wife, stole the wish-granting cow Nandini from the sage Vasishtha, who cursed him and the seven other Vasus to be born as mortals — Dyaus receiving the harshest sentence for leading the theft.