Vishvamitra always had a personality clash with Rishi Vasishtha. In one instance, the former cursed king Harishchandra to become a crane. When Vasishtha came to know of this, he turned himself into a crane too so that he could accompany the king. There were many more clashes between the two sages, and at times, Brahma, the god of creation, had to interfere.

In yet another version, Vasishtha independently destroyed Vishwamitra’s entire army by using his spiritual and mystical powers. Vishvamitra then decided to undertake Tapasya for several years to appease Lord Shiva to revenge this humiliation. The Lord finally appeared and granted him the knowledge of celestial weaponry. Finally, He succeeded in the killings of Vashista’s thousand sons but not Vashista himself.

An anger Vashista takes out his Brahmadanda, a wooden stick filled with the power of Brahma. It spent all of Vishwamitra’s most powerful weapons, including his Brahmastra. He then tried to attack his marauder, but the Devas interjected in time and stopped him from doing this. In this way, Vishwamitra was humiliated once again at the hands of Sage Vasishtha.