148 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
promptly carried away, Vasishtha in an easterly direction thus fulfilling the commands of both sages, but eluding Vishvamitra. Seeing Vasishtha so carried away, Vishvamitra, impatient and enraged by vexation, said to her, ‘Since thou, o chief of rivers, has eluded me, and hast receded, roll in waves of blood acceptable to the chief of demons’ (which are fabled to gloat on blood). The Sarasvati being thus cursed, flowed for a year in a stream mingled with blood. Rakshasas came to the place of pilgrimage where Vasishtha had been swept away, and revelled in drinking to satiety the bloody stream in security, dancing and laughing, as if they had conquered heaven. Some rishis who arrived at the spot some time after were horrified to see the blood-stained water, and the Rakshasas quaffing it, and made the most strenuous efforts to rescue the Sarasvati.”
The enmity between Vasishtha and Vishvamitra was not an enmity between two priests. It was an enmity between a Brahmin priest and a Kshatriya priest. Vasishtha was a Brahmin. Vishvamitra was a Kshatriya. He was a Kshatriya of royal lingeage. In the Rig Veda (iii.33.11) Vishvamitra is spoken of as the son of Kushika. The Vishnu Purana [1] gives further details about Vishvamitra. It says that Vishvamitra was the son of Gadhi who was descended from king Pururavas. This is confirmed by the Harivamsha. [2] From the Rig Veda (iii: 1:21) we know that the family of Vishvamitra has been keeping ‘fire’ kindled in every generation. [3] We also know from the Rig Veda that Vishvamitra was the author of many hymns of that Veda and was admitted to be a Rajarishi. He was the author of the hymn which is held to be the holiest in the whole of the Vedas namely the Gayatri hymn in the Rig Veda (iii.62.10). Another important fact we know about him is that he was a Kshatriya and his family belonged to the clan of the Bharatas. [4]
It seems that about this time a dispute was going on between Brahmins and Kshatriyas on the following points :
(1) The right to receive gifts. Gift means payment made without work. The contention of the Brahmins was that nobody could receive gifts. To receive gifts was the right of the Brahmins only. [5]
(2) The right to teach the Vedas. The Brahmins’ contention was that the Khastriya had only the right to study the Vedas. He had no right to teach the Vedas. It was the privilege of the Brahmins only.
1 Quoted in Muir, Vol. I, P. 349.
2 Quoted in Muir, Vol. I, p. 353.
3 Quoted in Muir, Vol. I, p. 316.
4 Quoted in Muir, Vol. I, p. 354.
5 That is why Manu says “if the king wants to make a gift to a Shudra he must make him work.”