(also written vaśiṣṭha) N. of a celebrated sage, the family- priest of the solar race of kings, and author of several Vedic hymns, particularly of the seventh Maṇ- ḍala of the Ṛgveda. He was the typical representative of true Brā- hmanic dignity and power, and the efforts of Viśvāmitra to rise to his level form the subject of many legends; cf. viśvāmitra.

2 N. of the author of a Smṛti (sometimes as- cribed to the...