Antecedents: Vishnu – Brahma – Marichi – Kashyapa – Surya – Agastya
Birth: As per the Uttararamayana, Nimi was the son of the Suryavanshi king Ikshvaku. As soon as he ascended the throne, he decided to conduct a yajna, and invited Vasishta for the same. Since Vasishta had to attend another yajna conducted by Indra, he declined. An angered Nimi conducted the yajna with Shatananda, the son of Gautama. Vasishta was not pleased with this and cursed that Nimi’s body and soul be separated. Nimi cursed the same right back. Vasishta roamed as a soul for a while, and in the end, approached Brahma to give him a body.
Brahma blessed him and said that he would be born through Mitra-Varuna. Vasishta’s soul reached earth and saw that Mitra and Varuna were occupying the same body. Vasishta too entered the same body. All three were traveling towards the sea when they met Urvashi by the seashore. They embraced and Vasishta’s soul entered Urvashi. Following that, Mitra and Varuna went their separate ways. Varuna was infatuated with Urvashi, but she liked Mitra.
Nevertheless, Varuna ejaculated and stored the semen in a pot. On seeing this, Mitra’s semen, which was already in Urvashi fell into the pot. After a few months, the pot broke and two babies emerged. One was Vasishta and the other was Agastya. Since they were born from the seeds of Mitra and Varuna, Agastya and Vasishta were also called Mitra-Varuna in later years. This is mentioned in Mahabharata, Shantiparva Chapter 343, verse 88.
Agastya was well versed in weaponry and in the scriptures. In the Mahabharata Adiparva, Chapter 139, verse 9, Drona said to Arjuna that even his guru Agnivesha was a disciple of Agastya for the Dhanurveda.
There is an interesting story behind Agastya’s getting married, in spite of his ascetic lifestyle. Once when Agastya was walking through the forest, he saw his ancestors hanging upside down. He asked them why they were in this state. They replied that only when a son was born to Agastya would they be allowed entry into heaven, so he should get married at the earliest. Agastya understood why he should get married but wondered which woman would agree to marry a physically unattractive sage. But he decided to try anyway.
During that time, the king of Vidarbha was praying for an offspring. Agastya took the good essence of all living beings to create a beautiful girl. He called her Lopamudra and gifted her to the king. The ecstatic king raised her amidst hundreds of maids, who were at her beck and call. When she grew up, Agastya went to the king and asked for her hand in marriage. The king was in two minds. On one hand, he didn’t want to give his daughter away to this ascetic, but he was also afraid that Agastya would curse him if he declined. But Lopamudra told her father that she would be happy to marry Agastya. Finally the king agreed. As per the Mahabharata Vanaparva Chapter 130, verse 5, Lopamudra gave up her royal comforts and married Agastya on the banks of the Sindhu river. According to the Mahabharata Vanaparva Chapter 96, they moved on to live by the river Ganga later.
Once when Agastya was in the middle of deep meditation, Lopamudra came to him and expressed her desire to start a family. She didn’t stop there. She wished that at the time of their union, he should be wearing garlands and ornaments, and she also wanted divine jewelery for herself. Agastya was amazed at these requests and realised he didn’t have the money to fulfill her wishes. So he left her at the ashram to find the money. He first went to the king Shutarva, who showed him his balance sheet and convinced him that he had no money. He accompanied Agastya to the king Bradhanashwa, who also turned out to have a similar balance sheet. Together they went to the supposedly rich Trasadasyu, but the result was the same. Finally, they all went to the rich asura Ilvala.
A bit about Ilvala. Ilvala had a younger brother called Vatapi. Once Ilvala went to a Brahmin and asked to be blessed with a boy who would equal Indra. The Brahmin refused. From that day, the brothers treated brahmins as their sworn enemies. Ilvala transformed Vatapi into a goat. Whenever brahmins visited them, Ilvala would cut the goat into pieces and feed the brahmins. When the meal was completed, Ilvala would say ‘Vatapi, come out’. Vatapi would tear through the brahmins’ stomach and emerge. Thus the brothers killed many brahmins. This was when Agastya and his group reached Ilvala’s abode. As usual, Ilvala prepared the meat and gave it to Agastya. As soon as the meal was over, he said “Vatapi, come out”, but Agastya calmly said “Vatapi Jeerno bhava”, and Vatapi was immediately digested. According to the Mahabharata Vanaparva Chapter 99, a frightened Ilvala gave each Brahmin 10000 cows and an equal amount of gold coins. he gave double that to Agastya, and in addition, also gave him a chariot with two horses named Viravan and Suravan.
Agastya returned and soon, Lopamudra was pregnant. Agastya asked her ” A thousand sons, or a hundred sons each as strong as 10 people, or ten sons each as strong as 100 people, or one son stronger and smarter than a 1000 sons, which do you want?” Lopamudra said she wanted a single son. Agastya blessed her and soon left for the forests, to meditate. After seven years, Lopamudra gave birth to Dridhasyu. As soon as he was born, the child began reciting the vedas. Since he soon started helping his father by collecting wood for the homa, he was also known as Idhmavahan. (Idhma – branches)
Once Narada, prone to gossiping, reached the Vindhya mountains. Vindhya treated him with respect and asked him for news. Narada blessed him and said he was coming from Mount Meru. “Indra, Agni, and all the Devas reside on Meru. Though Kailash, Nishadh, Neela, Gandhamadana are all greater than Meru, they are not as arrogant as Meru. Meru’s arrogance stems from the fact that the sun and moon orbit him.” On hearing this Vindhya thought it was time someone taught Meru a lesson. Vindhya made his peaks higher and it grew till the sky. The sun and the moon found it difficult to cross to the west, and the rhythm of the world suffered. The devas tried to pacify Vindhya, but it didn’t work. They approached Agastya for help, and he agreed.
Agastya, with his wife, set out from Kashi. On seeing Agastya, Vindhya was frightened enough to lower his peaks. Agastya told him that he was going south and till he came back, Vindhya should keep his peaks lowered. Vindhya agreed. Agastya proceeded south, built an ashram in the Malaya mountains and never went back. As per Devibhagavata Namaskanda, Agastya is named thus because he made a mountain (aga) lower his peaks.
Vritra was an enemy of the devas. Indra killed him by means of treachery and therefore received a ‘Brahmahatya’ curse. Indra hid himself inside a lotus in Manasarovar. The devas were worried as was Shachi, Indra’s wife. The petals of the lotus hid Indra well, and bad omens started appearing in devaloka. Thus was the situation when Nahusha, a king, completed hundred ashwamedhas and became eligible to be Indra. The devas conducted a yajna and anointed Nahusha as the new Indra. Nahusha, in spite of having his fill of the devaloka women, was not satiated and set his eyes on Indrani. (Shachi) She was not pleased and sought refuge with Brihaspati, who agreed to protect her.
The new title had made Nahusha arrogant and he sent a message to Brihaspati to send Indrani back, failing which he would kill Brihaspati. The sages tried to advise Nahusha but he ridiculed them and Brihaspati. The sages went to Brihaspati to get Indrani. Brihaspati advised Indrani on a way out. Accordingly, she went to Nahusha and told him that she would love to be his wife, but before that, she needed to know if her original husband was alive. Her search finally yielded results, but Indra refused to accompany her. When she told him about Nahusha’s tyranny, he gave her a new plan. She went back to Nahusha and told him that since women were attracted to extravagant displays of prestige, she wanted him to make a new palanquin, which would be carried by the sages. She wanted him to come to her abode on that palanquin, following which she would accept him as her husband.
Nahusha agreed and got sages such as Agastya to carry the palanquin. But, consumed with lust, he was not happy with the pace at which the sages carried him, and kept saying ‘sarpa, sarpa’ (faster, faster) The sages started running, but still Nahusha was not appeased. He started kicking the sages and even whipped Agastya. An enraged Agastya cursed him “Since you whipped me saying ‘sarpa sarpa’, may you be turned into a snake and fall from the heavens in to the jungles below”. (Another version, as per the Mahabharata Anushasanaparva Chapter 100 states that it was the sage Bhrigu, hiding within Agastya’s dreadlocks, who cursed Nahusha) A frightened Nahusha pleaded with Agastya for mercy. Agastya told him that he would be freed from the curse when he met Yudhishtira. As per Devibhagavata Sarga 8, Nahusha was immediately transformed into a snake and fell down, into the Himalayan jungles. During their exile, the Pandavas, after visiting many holy places, reached the Yaamuna mountain in the Himalayas. As Bhima was walking by a cave there, he was attacked by a huge snake. Despite his best efforts, he could not free himself. The snake began telling him the story of his existence, and Bhima was surprised to know that the snake had been a Suryavanshi king. As per the Mahabharata Udyogaparva Chapter 17, Vanaparva Chapter 179, and Shantiparva Chapter 342, Yudhishtira soon arrived at the spot, searching for Bhima, and as per Agastya’s curse, Nahusha transformed into his original self and returned to devaloka.
The asura Vritra had been tormenting the devas with the help of the Talakeyas, until Indra killed him. The frightened Talakeyas went into hiding beneath an ocean. There they planned their revenge, and at night, roamed the earth and killed Brahmins. They attacked the ashrams of Vasishta and Chyavana. The brahmins of the world began to live in fear of the Talakeyas. The devas sought Vishnu’s help in finding a solution. Vishnu informed them that killing the Talakeyas would be possible only if the ocean could be soaked up, and this, only Agastya could do. According to the Mahabharata Vanaparva Chapters 101-105, Agastya gladly agreed to the task, strode to the ocean, and as the sages and devas watched, took the ocean in his cupped hands and drank it all up. The devas killed the Talakeyas. But now the devas complained to Vishnu that the world had lost an ocean. Vishnu told them that soon, Ganga would fall to the earth due to Bhageeratha’s prayers, and then, the world would regain the ocean.
During the Pandavas’ exile, they visited many holy places and finally reached the Himalayas. Arjuna left for Meru to pray to Shiva. After a few years, the rest of the Pandavas also traveled to Meru in search of him. With the help of sages like Vrishaparva, Arshtishena etc, they reached the kingdom of Kuber. There, Bhima defeated Kuber’s armies and killed his confidant Maniman. Yudhishtira asked Kuber forgiveness for his brother’s acts, and wondered how the divine armies could be defeated by a human. Kuber told him that it was because of Agastya’s curse, “Once Maniman and I left for Kushavati, for a yajna, on our divine chariot. On our way, we saw Agastya doing suryanamaskar on the banks of the Kalindi. Maniman spat on Agastya’s head from the sky. An enraged Agastya cursed me that since Maniman had spat on Agastya in front of me, he and my armies would die at the hands of a human. I would be free of this curse only after I see the person who killed them.” As per Mahabharata Vanaparva Chapter 160, the curse was lifted when Kuber saw Bhima.
According to the Ramayana Balakanda, Rama and Lakshmana accompanied Vishwamitra into the forests, to protect his yaga. When they entered Tatakavana, he started telling them the story of Tataka. Tataka was the daughter of a Yaksha named Suketu, who had become a father after years of praying to Brahma. Brahma also blessed the child with the strength of a hundred elephants. After Tataka became old enough to marry, Suketu found her an alliance with Sunda, the son of Dhardha. They had a son named Maricha. When Sunda was killed, Tataka took out her anger on Agastya’s ashram. Agastya cursed mother and son, and they became rakshasas, following which she completely destroyed Agastya’s ashram.
According to Mahabharata Anushasanaparva Chapter 94, once Vasishta and Bhrigu undertook a pilgrimage. Indra was the leader of the group. Along their way, they reached the Brahmasaras at Kaushiki, where Agastya had planted lotuses. The pilgrims ate up all of Agastya’s lotuses. Agastya was very angry and began questioning the sages. None of the sages confessed, and Agastya finally reached Indra. A frightened Indra told him that they had done so not because of greed, but only because they wanted Agastya to impart some wisdom. Saying so, he returned the lotuses. Agastya was pacified and let the pilgrimage continue.
In the Mahabharata Anushasanaparva Chapter 155, the following is recounted by Bhishma to Arjuna. Bhishma himself was told this by Vayu, while extolling Agastya. Once the devas, after being humiliated in battle by the asuras, came to Agstya for help. Agastya promptly started burning the asuras with his tapas energy, and many of them fell to the earth and the netherworld. He let them live, but devaloka was finally rid of Asuras.
Once Agastya started a yajna that was to last 12 years. It was attended by many sages, but once it started, devaloka stopped getting rains. There was no harvest, but Agastya continued to feed the sages who were attending his yajna. The sages were worried that if the rains were delayed, the yajna would suffer. Agastya assured them that if Indra didn’t make it rain, he himself would assume Indra’s form and fulfill the duties. As per Mahabharata Amedhikaparva Chapter 92, Indra was frightened on hearing what Agastya said, and promptly did the needful.
According to the Bhagavata Skanda 8, Chapter 2, there is a tale of Agastya cursing the king Indradyumna and transforming him into an elephant. Once Indradyumna, the Pandya king, was deep in prayers, to Lord Vishnu, and didn’t notice Agastya approaching him. Agastya was furious and cursed Indradyumna to live as an elephant for a thousand years. Indradyumna was transformed immediately and began to live in the jungles. At that time, a sage called Devala was meditating in the same jungle. One day, a gandharva named Huhu passed by that way accompanied by a few apsaras. They began frolicking in the stream in front of Devala’s ashram. Devala was angry at Huhu for disturbing him, and cursed him into becoming a crocodile. Huhu lived in that stream, located in the Trikuta mountains, unchallenged. One day, Indradyumna, the elephant waded into the stream and the crocodile immediately caught him by the foot. This tussle is said to have lasted a thousand years, at the end of which they were both tired and started praying. Vishnu appeared with Garuda, separated them with his chakra and released them from the curses.
According to Ramayana Yudhakanda Sarga 107, sometime during the war with Ravana, Rama became immersed deep in thought and was immobilised. Ravana chose this moment to advance. As the devas watched from above to see how the battle would unfold, Agastya approached Rama and taught him the adityahridaya mantra. Having grasped the mantra, Rama resumed battle and defeated Ravana.
The following is as per the Skandapurana. Shiva and Parvati were married in the Himalayas. All the beings in the universe attended the ceremony. The Himalayas started sinking and the weight of the world started shifting. To balance this, Shiva sent Agastya southwards and as per Shiva’s instructions, he reached the temple of Kuttalam, which worshiped Vishnu. The Vaishnavites refused to allow Agastya entry, since he was a Shaivite. Agastya immediately changed his appearance to that of a Vaishnavite and entered the temple. As soon as he entered, the idol changed into that of Shiva, and since then it has remained so. Agastya’s presence in the south brought back the earth’s balance.
Also as per Skandapurana, as Agastya crossed Vindhya and was moving south, a rakshasa named Krauncha blocked his progress. Using his powers he created a heavy rain. Agastya took some water from his vessel and sprinkled it on Krauncha. Krauncha immediately became a mountain. Agastya told him that he would be released when Subramanya’s weapon struck him.
Once an asura named Shurapadma routed the devas from devaloka. Indra reached a place called Shiyali in Tanjore and started praying to Shiva. That caused the rains to be delayed. Meanwhile, Agastya had absorbed the Kaveri river in his vessel. Upon hearing of this, Ganesha took the form of a crow and overturned the vessel. Agastya was angry and started chasing the crow. Ganesha soon turned into a child to evade Agastya, but was caught. According to the Skandapurana, the child then transformed into Subramanya, and blessed Agastya thus “May your vessel ever be full”. It is said that the Kaveri never dries up because of this blessing.
Once Agastya stayed as a guest in the palace of the king Bhadrashwa for a week. He praised the queen Kanthimati a lot. The king wanted to know the reason. Agastya told him that in her previous birth, the queen was a maid to a rich man. Once, during a Dwadashi during heavy rains, he asked her to ensure that none of the lamps in a temple stopped burning during the night. She managed to do it, and was hence born as a queen in her next birth. According to Vayupurana, the king and queen were happy to hear this and started observing the Dwadashi vrata from then.
Once Agastya reached devaloka as Indra’s guest. A dance by Urvashi was organised on the occasion. During the dance, Urvashi became enamored with Jayantha and missed a few steps. Narada, who was playing his veena Mahati, also made a few mistakes. Agastya cursed all of them. Jayantha became a reed, Urvashi was born as a human named Madhavi, and Narada’s veena lost its divine status and started being used by mortals.
Dushpanya was the youngest son of the king of Pataliputra. He was known to be extremely cruel and had committed several acts of infanticide. The king threw him out of the kingdom. Dushpanya went into the forests and there, drowned Ugraravas’ child. Ugraravas cursed him and as per the curse, Dushpanya too drowned, and his spirit moved about, suffering many ills. Finally the spirit reached Agastya. As per Sethumahatmya, Agastya asked his disciple Sutheeshna to get water from the agnitheertha in the Gandhamadana mountains and sprinkle it on the spirit. As soon as this was done, Dushpanya’s spirit attained moksha.
Once Agastya reached a forest that was a 100 yojanas long. It seemed deserted, but soon a few gandharvas and apsaras reached there and were seen frolicking. One among them calmly ate up a human corpse lying there and then circumambulated Agastya. Agastya asked him why he had eaten the corpse. He told Agastya, “In the Tretayuga there lived a king called Vidarbha. I am his son, Shweta. After ruling the kingdom for a long time, I came to this riverside and started meditating, and then left the world for the heavens. But still, my hunger was not satiated. I asked Brahma how was it that an immortal like me could feel hunger. I was told that when I was a king, i’d not given anything to anyone, and that was the reason for my hunger. He also told me that I should come to this place for ten thousand days and eat a corpse everyday, and as soon as thousand days were completed, you would reach the place, and if I gave you a golden bangle, my sins would be washed away.” According to the Uttararamayana, so saying, Shweta gifted Agastya a golden bangle and disappeared.
Other details about Agastya
Agastya had a brother called Sutheeshna (Agnipurana Chapter 7), who was also his disciple. (Sethumahatmyam)
Ilvala and Vatapi were the sons of the rakshasi Ajamukhi, born as a result of Ajamukhi seducing Durvasa. They demanded all of Durvasa’s abilities that he had amassed with meditation. As per the Skandapurana Asurakanda, a furious Durvasa cursed that they would die at the hands of Agastya.
According to Rigveda, Sukta 112, Agastya spent time at the court of the king Khela, as his adviser.
As per Uttararamayana, when Rama returned from Lanka, many sages came to visit him, including Dattatreya, Namuchi, Pramuchi, Valmiki, Soma, Kandu and Agastya from the south.
Also, as per Uttararamayana, Agastya had once gifted Rama an arrow, which would pierce any Asura’s heart, kill him, clean itself in the ocean, and return to the quiver.
Once Agastya reached the ashram of Apasthamba. According to the Brahmapurana, Apasthamba asked him who was the ultimate God – Brahma, Vishnu or Shiva. Agastya replied that the three were all manifestations of the ultimate God.
Agastya once cursed the children of Manibhadra into becoming Saptasalas. (see Manibhadra)
Agastya’s brother Sutheeshna was visited by Rama and Lakshmana during their exile.
Agastya once cursed Shuka into becoming a Rakshasa. (see Shuka)
It is believed that Agastya still lives in Agastyakuda, deep in meditation. Since Agastya had traveled a lot, he had ashrams all over India. The Ramayana Aranyakanda talks of a calm, beautiful hermitage of Agastya which Rama, lakshmana and Sita had visited. There, Agastya gifted them a bow that had belonged to Vishnu. Agastya accompanied them to Ayodhya when they returned after killing Ravana.
Tamil literature names Agastya as part of the first 2 (of 3) sanghas. Since Agastya was short in stature, he has also been named kurumuni. Agastya had written a vyakarana in Tamil that combined literature, music and drama, but this work has been lost. The oldest work of vyakarana in Tamil – Tholkapya, was written by one of Agastya’s twelve disciples. (of the same name) Temples of Agastya can still be found in Tamil Nadu. Kamba has named Agastya in his version of the Ramayana. Another famous Tamil poet – Villiputhura has said that the Tamil language is a gift from Agastya. Agastya is said to have authored the following works – Agastyagita, Agastyasamhitas in Pancharatra as well as Skandapurana, Shivasamhita and the Dvaidhanirnayatantra in Bhaskarasamhita.