The Rishis or great Sages.
Another class of very celebrated celestials are the Rishis or great Sages, said to be 48,000 in number.* They are supposed to be great and holy persons, who, by different kinds of austerities, have acquired great gifts and power to bless and to curse most effectually. What these heathens think of them may be seen from the following passage of a letter written to us about them :
“The 48,000 Rishis are divine creatures, who were created together with the 330,000,000 Devas, in order that they might do hard penance before God, and serve him in -holiness, and thus be models and patterns for men. They need neither sleep nor rest, neither food nor drink ; they are continually engaged in austerities and contemplation, and in adoring and praising God.”
In the Puranas many an absurd story is related of the Rishis, according to which they are now in this world, then in that of the gods, and then in that of Isvara, or Vishnu, or Brahma ; for they are believed to have the power to be wherever they please. Not all the 48,000 Rishis are known by names, but certain among them have become very famous, and pictures of them, in which they are represented as practising austeiities, are frequently met with. Those that are best known are the following : Agastya, Narada, Gautama, Vedavyasa, Pundarlka, Valmiki, Vasishtha, Visvamitra, Durvasa, Suta, Kapila, Kasyapa, Mar- kandea and Jamadagni.f
* Only here in Southern India their number seems to be fixed at 48,000.
In the Vishnu Purana we read: “There are three kinds of Rishis or inspired sages ; royal Rishis, or princes who have adopted a life of devotion, as Visvamitra ; divine Rishis, or sages who are demigods also, as Narada; and Brahman Rishis, or sages who are the sons of Brahma or Brahmans, as Vasishtha and others.”
The Rishis are very often also called Munis, which word means like-wise sages. Moreover the Hindu books speak very frequently of the Sapta Rishis, i. e. the seven primitive and most famous Rishis, whose names are according to one list: Atri, Angirasa, Gautama, Jamadagni, Bharadvaja, Vasishtha, Visvamitra; and according to another : Agastya, Angirasa, Gautama, Kasyapa, Pulasthya, Markandea, Vasishtha.
To be distinguished from the great Bishis, and yet, to some extent, identical with them, are the nine Prajapatis or patriarchs, the mind-born sons of Brahma. They are Bhrigu, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Angiras, Marichi, Dak- sha, Atri, and Vasishtha. Among them Daksha, who had many daughters, is best known, more especially because of his great sacrifice which was destroyed by Virabhadra.
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