Paper short abstract:

The Rg-Vedic hymn to Vasistha is the oldest Indian case of a formal divinization, germ of a tradition whose flowering would characterize classical Hinduism. Vasistha became a star but came too early to graduate to full Hindu godhood.

Paper long abstract:

In Indian literature, the hymn to Vasistha in Rg Veda 7:33 is the oldest attested case of a formal divinization. It literally shows the germ of a tradition whose flowering would characterize classical Hinduism. Vasistha himself came too early to graduate to full godhood as understood in classical Hinduism, i.e. as an object of temple worship. However, he earned a place in heaven and thereby enjoyed the original Pagan form of divinization, cfr. Greece and Ugarit. He got identified with the star Mizar in the Saptarsi constellation (his wife Arundhati with its twin star Alcor, symbolizing the marriage ideal). Vasistha would remain a remarkable mythological figure around whom stories were woven in the epics, the Puranas and the astrological classics. His legendary ownership of the wish-fulfilling cow forms a link between an ancient Indo-European theme (cfr. the Germanic cow Audhumla) and the very Indian divinization of the cow. Though there is no indication that Rama's guru was the same person (Vasistha came to serve as a family name), the rsi's aura certainly attaches to the guru, making him also the central character of a medieval yoga classic, the Yoga Vasistha. We will show that effective divinization was not yet part of the Vedic worldview and belongs to the revolution that generated classical Hinduism with its temples, inviolable cows, belief in reincarnation and celebration of celibate monkhood.