His entire army having been exterminated by the warriors produced by Śabalā and his hundred sons reduced to ashes by the very roar of Vasistha even as they assailed him, Viśwāmitra retires to the Himālayas for austerities and, receiving a number of missiles from Lord Śiva, tries them on the inmates of Vasistha’s hermitage; VVasistha meets him with a mere staff appropriate to a Brāhmana.