998
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 1, Ch. 19]
the power of his spiritual achievements. He picked a quarrel with Vasiṣṭha Muni when he was a  kṣatriya  king and performed a great sacrifice in cooperation with Mataṅga Muni and thus was able to vanquish the sons of Vasiṣṭha. He became a great  yogī , and yet he failed to check his senses and thus was obliged to become the father of Śakuntalā, the beauty queen of world history. Once, when he was a  kṣatriya  king, he visited the hermitage of Vasiṣṭha Muni, and he was given a royal reception. Viśvāmitra wanted from Vasiṣṭha a cow named Nandinī, and the Muni refused to deliver it. He stole the cow, and thus there was a quarrel between the sage and the King. Viśvāmitra was defeated by the spiritual strength of Vasiṣṭha, and thus the King decided to become a  brāhmaṇa . Before becoming a  brāhmaṇa  he underwent severe austerity on the bank of the Kauśika. He was also one who tried to stop the Kurukṣetra war.
Aṅgirā : He is one of the six mental sons of Brahmā and the father of Brhaspati, the great learned priest of the demigods in the heavenly planets. He is born of the semen of Brahmājī given to a cinder of fire. Utthato and Samvarta are his sons. It is said that he is still performing austerity and chanting the holy name of the Lord at a place known as Alokananda on the banks of the Ganges.
Utathya : One of the three sons of Maharṣi Aṅgirā. He was the spiritual master of Mahārāja Mandhata. He married Bhadrā, the daughter of Soma (Moon). Varuṇa kidnapped his wife Bhadrā, and to retaliate the offense of the god of water, he drank all the water of the world.
Medhātithi : An old sage of yore. An assembly member of the heavenly King Indradeva. His son was Kanva Muni, who brought up Śakuntalā in the forest. He was promoted to the heavenly planet by strictly following the principles of retired life ( vānaprastha ).
Devala : A great authority like Nārada Muni and Vyāsadeva. His good name is on the list of authorities mentioned in the  Bhagavad-gītā  when Arjuna acknowledged Lord Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He met Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira after the Battle of Kurukṣetra, and he is the elder brother of Dhaumya, the priest of the Pāṇḍava family. Like the  kṣatriyas , he also allowed his daughter to select her own husband in a  svayamvara  meeting, and at that ceremony all the bachelor sons of the  ṛṣis  were invited. According to some, he is not Aṣita Devala.
Gautama : One of the seven great sages of the universe. Śaradvān Gautama is one of his sons. Persons in the Gautama-gotra (dynasty) today are either his family descendants or in his disciplic succession. The  brāhmaṇas  who profess Gautama-gotra are generally family descendants, and the  kṣatriyas  and  vaiśyas  who profess Gautama-gotra are all in the line