The pilgrim of Vashistha

The sage said to Janmajeya - Listen while I tell you about the sites visited by Balarama.

Balarama went to the site of Vashishtha on the banks of river Saraswati. He bathed there and fed the poor.

Janmajeya asked - What is special about the place?

The sage said - I have told you earlier about Vashistha and Vishwamitra and their fight. Vishwamitra killed the sons of Vashishtha. He made the king Saudasa a rakshasha and through him he killed the eldest son of Vashistha. Vashishtha's daughter in law was pregnant at that time, and gave birth to the great sage Parasara. His sage was the great Vyasa.
Vashistha's ashrama was on the eastern banks of Saraswati and Vishwamitra was on the western bank. While Vashistha did not want to fight, Vishwamitra was looking for an excuse for the quarrel.

One day Vishwamitra called out to the river Saraswati. Scared of the sage, the river appeared before him. Vishwamitra said Vashistha is meditating. He is lost in that and has no sense left. Go and drown his ashrama.
Fearing Vishwamitra's curse, Saraswati went and flooded the ashrama of Vashistha. Vashistha was lost in meditation and had no sense. He floated away into the ashrama of Vishwamitra. Vishwamitra was pleased. He decided to get a sword and kill his enemy.
When he went to get the sword, the river started thinking. It is because of me that Vashishtha will die. I feared being cursed and thus brought Vashistha over. Let me become cursed but let me save the life of the sage.

Thinking thus, the river pushed Vashistha back into his ashrama. When he returned, Vishwamitra was furious to see what had happened. He cursed Saraswati to become bloody.
The waters of the river turned red. The ghosts and spirits were happy and blessed the sage for having provided them a source of blood.

The sages refused to bathe in the waters of the river. They went to Brahma and asked him to help. Brahma asked them to please Shiva.

On the banks of the river, the sages worshipped Shiva. Making a Shiva linga from the earth they worshiped that with flowers, milk, honey and butter.

Please Shiva appeared before them, riding on his bullock with the trident on his hand. The sages asked him to restore the waters of the rivers and Shiva did that.

This is a great pilgrim spot. Whoever bathes in this atones from the sin of the killing of brahmanas.

The rakshasas who had been feeding on the waters came crying. The sages said From today you will be offered the last part of the sacrifices. Feed on that and be satisfied.

Vashistha and Parasara

In due course Shakti's wife gave birth to a son who was named Parasara. Having seen Vashishtha as the male member in the house, Parasara thought Vashishtha was his father. One he called out to Vashishtha, addressing him as his father. Hearing this, his mother, told him the truth.

Hearing this, the young Parasa started shaking with anger. He needed to do something. He thought of destroying all rakshashas from the earth.

Vashishtha hearing this and asked him to discard his anger. A brahman was supposed to forgive and not hold anger against anyone.

He said he will tell Parasara about events that had happened long back.

Kalmashpada

Vishwamitra kept looking for ways to get back at Vashishtha. He found his excuse in the king called Kalmashpada, son of Saudasa. Kalmashpada was born in the Ikshvaku dynasty. Vashishtha was his priest.
One day the king, holding a sacrifice, invited Vashistha. Being busy, the sage refised. Angry, the king decided to call Vishwamitra. He went to invite Vishwamitra and on his way back along with Vishwamitra, they came across Shakti, son of Vashishtha.
As the path was narrow, the king asked Shakto to give way. Shakti said, as a brahman, he needed to go first. The king said he ruled the land and he had right to the path.
Both started quarelling, none of them willing to give way. The king angry, struck Shakti with a whip. Shakti started bleeding.
Angry Shakti cursed the king. He said Though born in a high dynasty, your behavior is not like that of one. I curse you to become a cannibal.
The king started pleading with Shakti.
Vishwamitra, who had been watching this invoked the spirit of a cannibal and installed it in the king. Possessed, the king killed Shakti and ate him up.
Having eaten up Shakti, he became terrible in form.
Vishwamitra took the king now to the place where Vashistha's hundred sons were. Seeing the sons, the king ate then up also.
Vashishtha was not there at that time. When he came home, he saw an empty house.
Meditating, he realized that Vishwamitra was the cause of all this.
Saddened, he wanted to kill himself.
He immersed himself in the ocean to drown himself. He was unable to drown. He then came out and went to the mountains and jumped from a high peak, but he did not die.
He then lit a fire and jumped inside that. The fire died down as soon as he entered. He entered a dense forest hoping that the wild beasts would eat him; even that did not happen.

Dejected, he came home and seeing an empty house he was sad. He wanted to kill himself again. He saw a flowing river full of crocodiles. He was about to jump in, when he heard the sound of Vedas and also someone calling him. Turning, he saw Shakti's wife. He asked her who was reciting the Vedas. The woman said, it was her unborn child.

Happy that his dynasty had not ended, Vashishtha took Shakti's wife along, and brought her home.
One day Vashistha came across the king, Kalmashpada who was living,  eating human flesh. Seeing the sage, the king rushed to eat him. Vashishtha sprinkled some water from the pot he was carrying. The spirit that had possessed the king left, and the king was back to normal.

Regaining consciousness, the king fell at Vashishtha's feet and begged for forgiveness.

The sage forgave him and the king left.

Vishwamitra becomes a brahman

Arjuna then asked the Gandharva, who is this Vashistha, who saved the king?
The Gandharva said , this was one great sage who had great self control. Vishwamitra troubled him a lot, but still he did not loose his temper.

Arjuna asked what the reason for Vishwamitra to cause trouble for Vashistha? The gandharva then said, listen to this.

In the land of Kanyakubja, there was a king called Gaadhi. One day the son of Gaadhi went on a hunt along with his army. Having roamed around for long, tired, the prince came across the ashrama of the sage Vashishtha. He entered there. The sage seeing he had guests, welcomed them. Seeing that the prince and the army was tired he asked his cow, Nandini, to help provide some food for them. Hearing this, Nandini arranged for tasty food for all. Nandini also arranged for comfortable beds for the guests to rest on.
Seeing this, the prince asked the sage to gift Nandini to him. In exchange, he said, he would many cows with hooves of gold. He would also give part of the kingdom to the sage in exchange of Nandini.
Vashishtha refused to part with Nandini at which the prince said this was not fit behavior for a sage. A sage did not things like this which was fit for a king.
The prince further said if the sage would not give up the cow, he would use force to get the cow.
As the sage still refused the prince instructed his army to attack. The army tied the cow with ropes and tried to pull it away. The cow would not move. It looked at the sage.
Vashishtha said he was powerless. Hearing this, the cow increased its size. It made a terrible noise and suddenly a massive army appeared. This army soon overpowered the prince's army.
The prince, whose name was Vishwamitra, was amazed to see this. He thought that a brahman was the most powerful of all humans.
Sending all his followers home, he decided to stay back in the forest and meditate.
His penance was very austere. He would sit around a fire in the summer and pray. In the monsoon, he would stand in the lakes and pray. In the winters he would discard his clothing and go to the mountains and pray.
Seeing his meditation Brahma appeared before him and asked him to ask for a boon. Vishwamitra said he wanted to become a brahman. Brahma said as Vishwamitra was born a kshatriya, he would not be able to become one now. Brahma said it would be possible in the next birth.
Vishwamitra did not agree and Brahma left.
Vishwamitra further intensified his penance. He was reduced to a skeleton. So severe was his penance, that the Gods were scared. Brahma came once again and asked him what he wanted. Vishwamitra said he wanted to be a brahman.
Brahma agreed.

Though having become a brahman, he was still harboring the insult that he had felt in the hands of Vashishtha.