01Defeat Leads Vishvamitra to Seek Stronger Arms
Vishvamitra has already seen his army overwhelmed by forces produced by Vashishtha’s extraordinary cow Shabala. His sons also fail when they attack the sage. Humiliated by these losses, he leaves a surviving son in charge of his kingdom and undertakes severe austerities in the Himalayas. When Shiva appears, Vishvamitra asks for the complete knowledge of weaponry, including arms belonging to divine and other supernatural beings.
Shiva grants his request. Armed with this new knowledge, Vishvamitra returns to Vashishtha’s hermitage and attacks it, driving its inhabitants into flight. His answer to the earlier defeat is therefore another attempt to overcome the sage by force, now using the celestial weapons that his austerities have secured.
02A Staff Absorbs the Assault
Vashishtha confronts him with the Brahmadanda, the staff that expresses the sage’s spiritual power. It first quenches Vishvamitra’s fiery missile. Vishvamitra then releases the Varuna, Raudra, Indra and Pashupata weapons along with further missiles. The staff neutralizes the entire succession. Even his final resort to Brahmastra fails to overcome Vashishtha.
After absorbing that last weapon, the sage becomes so terrifying that gods and seers ask him to calm himself. Vishvamitra recognizes the inadequacy of his warrior power before this spiritual strength. He resolves to seek the higher status and discipline of a Brahman sage, redirecting the ambition that had driven his attack.
