Agastya

In Hinduism, Agastya (अगस्त्य in devanagari, pronounced as /ə gəs tyə/; also transliterated as Agathiar அகத்தியர் in Tamil, ಅಗಸ್ತ್ಯ in Kannada, Agasthiar, Agastyar and in other ways) is a legendary Vedic sage or rishi. Some say that it was the sage Agastya who first brought and popularized the Vedic religion to south India. Agastya and his clan are also credited to have "authored" many mantras of the Rig Veda, the earliest and most revered Hindu scripture, in the sense of first having the mantras revealed in his mind by the Supreme Spirit Brahman. In some reckonings, Agastya is also said to be one of the greatest Seven Sages or Saptarshis. The word is also written as Agasti.

Humbling the Vindhya mountains

Legend says that the Vindhya mountains that separate north and south India from each other once showed a tendency to grow so high as to obstruct the usual trajectory of the sun. This was accompanied by increasing vanity on the part of that mountain range, which demanded that Surya, the sun-God, should circum-ambulate the Vindhyas in the same way as he does Mount Meru (identified by some as being the north pole). The need arose to subdue, by guile, the Vindhyas, and Agastya was chosen to do that.

Agastya journeyed from north to south, and on the way encountered the now impassible Vindhya mountains. He asked the mountain range to facilitate his passage across to the south. In reverence for so eminent a sage as Agastya, the Vindhya mountains bent low enough to enable the sage and his family to cross over and enter south India. The Vindhya range also promised not to increase in height until Agastya and his family returned to the north. Agastya settled permanently in the south, and the Vindhya range, true to its word, never grew further. Thus, Agastya accomplished by guile something that would have been impossible to accomplish by force.

Agastya and the Tamil language

Agastya was a great devotee of Lord Shiva. After Agastya reached the south, in answer to his prayer for revelation on the classical language of South India, Lord Shiva himself taught the classical Tamil language to Agastya. Agastya is said to have attended Tamil Sangam (convention) and staged his work the Agattiyam or Agastyam, reputedly one of the earliest treatise on Tamil grammar. In the 2500-year old Tamil Sangam, Agasthyakoodam has a history of being homet Siddha medicine and it is said to be the home of Agastya. It talks about the mountain as "Potalaka," home to deity Avalokiteshvara. Potala in Tibet, the seat of the Dalai Lama is thought to be a replica of this place. Many Buddhists used to visit Agasthyakoodam in the olden days. Furthermore, the very Sage Agastya is considered by Buddhists to be a Buddhist Siddha.

Agastya and Lopāmudrā

As with all other Hindus, it was necessary for Agastya to marry and sire a son, in order to fulfill his duties to the Manus. Once he resolved upon doing this, Agastya pursued an unusual course of action: by his yogic powers, he created a female infant who possessed all the special qualities of character and personality that would be appropriate in the wife of a renunciate. At this time, the noble and virtuous king of Vidarbha (an area in south-central India, just south of the Vindhya mountains), was childless and was undergoing penances and prayers for the gift of a child. Agastya arranged for the child he had created to be born the daughter of that noble king of Vidarbha. The child was named "Lopamudra" by her parents. Upon her coming of age, Agastya approached the king and sought the hand of his daughter. The king was initially chagrined to hear such a suggestion from a renunciate, but found that his daughter, who had early exhibited extraordinary standards of mind and character, was insistent that he should accept the proposal. She was utterly intent upon exchanging the palace of her father the king for the forest-hermitage of Agastya. Lopamudra and Agastya were duly married and lived a life of extraordinary felicity.

Legends about Agastya

One story about Agastya goes that once the demons had taken refuge in the ocean and it was difficult for the gods to vanquish them, so they went to Sage Agastya for help. Then, after hearing the gods, the sage drank the entire ocean water and held it within him until the demons were destroyed.

Agastya is said to have "dedicated" all the forest animals to the deity Rudra (later called as Shiva), hence making them fit for eating if killed while hunting.

Another story has it that two demon brothers decided to kill Agastya. One of them was good at changing form and the other knew the Sanjivani mantra which, when invoked can bring back a dead person to life. They hatched a plan that the one who could change form would turn into a goat and be killed and fed to Agastya. After Agastya had eaten the goat, the other would invoke the Sanjivani mantra to bring back his brother to life, who in turn would rend Agastya's stomach and come out thereby killing him. By the plan, one changed into a goat and the other disguised himself as a Brahmachari who invited Agastya to a meal. Agastya knew beforehand about the plan due to his immense Vedic powers, but he resolved to teach both a lesson. After the meal, Agastya simply rubbed his stomach saying Jeernam jeernam vathaapi jeernam (meaning "The food that is eaten will be digested well") to digest the meal, while the other demon tried to bring his brother to life in vain. Agastya plainly informed the demon that his brother has been digested. Agastya, realising that his liking for meat had nearly gotten him killed (had it not been for his vedic powers), forbade the consumption of meat for all people.

Other facets of Agastya

He is considered as the first and foremost person of Siddha. He is considered the guru of many other Siddhars. He is also called Kurumuni, meaning short (kuru) saint (muni). His contributions were to the field of Medicine (Siddha) and Astrology - especially Nadi Jodhidam. He is said to have lived for over 5000 years, and that one of his medicinal preparations, Boopathi Kuligai, is so powerful that it can even bring the dead back to life. Two of his students and disciples were Therayar and Tholkappiar.

Unity of Vishnu and Shiva

At a Saivite temple named Kutralam, formerly a Vishnu temple, in Tamil Nadu, Agastya, in one legend, was refused entry. He then appeared as a Vaishnavite devotee and is said to have miraculously converted the image to a Shiva linga. A symbolic meaning of this conversion, in one interpretation, is to show that Vishnu and Shiva are different aspects of the one and same God.

Certain important Stotrams

The Lalitha sahasranama, which describes the 1000 names of the mother Goddess (Known commonly as Gowri, Parvati or Durga), was first revealed to the world when Hayagriva, a manifestation of Vishnu, taught the same to Agastya.
Agastya is said to have composed the Aditya Hridayam, a hymn to Surya, and taught the same to Rama just before the war between Rama and Ravana.

Reference

Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend (ISBN 0500510881) by Anna Dhallapiccola

External links

Hindu sages | Tamil mythical figures

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