Vasistha

Vasistha is a Vedic rishi counted among the seven great sages. The dictionary entries quoted by Wisdom Library call him a celebrated sage, the family priest of the solar race of kings, and the author of several Vedic hymns, particularly of the seventh mandala of the Rigveda. The same page notes that he is first noticed in the Rigveda and later in the Aitareya Brahmana, that tradition makes one or several Vasishthas the household priests of the kings of Ayodhya, and that a scholar of the Puranas found seven Vasishthas in the legends who merged into one person. He is entered here so the seventh mandala can be attributed to its traditional composer.