According to a hymn in the Rigveda Agastaya and Vashistha were born from the seed of Varuna and Mitra, primordial mind born children of Brahma, jointly called Aditya. At a sacrificial feast they met Urvashi, the first dawn.Their seed fell in many places, on the water, on the ground and in a jar. Vashistha was born from the ground and Agastaya was born in the jar.
There are several tales attributed to Vashistha. One day Vashishta returned from a three day fast in the forest and found a fierce dog guarding Varuna’s home. He was hungry and could not wait to get in,but he did not want to argue with the dog.So he sang a hymn which lulled the dog to deep slumber.This hymn is in the Rig Veda and even today is invoked by burglars.
Vashistha was a family priest for many kings. King Saudasa was one amongst them. One day the king went out hunting and killed a tiger. But suddenly the tiger disappeared and left the king baffled. It was
actually a rakshasa in disguise. A few days later the king asked Vashistha to conduct a prayer and sacrifice. While Vashistha was out busy preparing all the proper items for the ceremony, the rakshasa came in disguised as a cook. Then the cunning rakshasa took out human flesh which he carried with him, and placed it in the pots to cook.
Vashistha returned to the site
and the king politely offered him
the victuals. Vashistha by the power
of his meditation recognised it as
human flesh. He was enraged and
cursed the king saying that he
would be in a similar situation one
day and would actually eat human
flesh. The poor king was aghast.
Vashistha realised what had
happened, but now it was too late;
he could only temper the curse by
saying that it would be only for
twelve years. But it was enough: it
was this very king who ate the sage
Shakti and his brothers, all sons of
Vashishta The story does not end
here.
Another version is that Viswamitra who was Vashistha’s rival cast a spell on the king. Vashistha was heart broken. He tried to end his life in many ways but he could not succeed. Miraculously he stayed alive - when an avalanche from Mount Meru fell on him, the rocks turned to cotton. He went through a forest in flames, but not a hair was synged. He tried other methods, everything failed. He returned to his hermitage a broken man where he encountered the king turned rakshasa, who attempted to gobble him up. Vashistha then relieved him of the curse. Now the king was free at last but no one could forget that all this happened to good men at the mischief of a rakshasa. Perhaps it was the doing of Vishwamitra.