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Saying thus, Sage Agastya went on to the South, built a hermitage in the Malayachala and settled there. It is said that, since then, neither has Agastya ever gone to the North nor has the Vindhya ever risen up. In fact, as he had made the mountain (Aga) bow its head, the sage is said to have got the name Agastya. This story is enumerated in the Tenth skandha (Chapters 2-7) of the Devi Bhagavata.<ref name=":0">Vettam Mani (1975), [https://archive.org/details/puranicencyclopa00maniuoft/page/6 Puranic Encyclopaedia], Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.</ref>
Saying thus, Sage Agastya went on to the South, built a hermitage in the Malayachala and settled there. It is said that, since then, neither has Agastya ever gone to the North nor has the Vindhya ever risen up. In fact, as he had made the mountain (Aga) bow its head, the sage is said to have got the name Agastya. This story is enumerated in the Tenth skandha (Chapters 2-7) of the Devi Bhagavata.<ref name=":0">Vettam Mani (1975), [https://archive.org/details/puranicencyclopa00maniuoft/page/6 Puranic Encyclopaedia], Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.</ref>
== शापकथाः ॥ Curses by Rshi Agastya ==
=== राजानहुषः ॥ Curse to Raja Nahusha ===
The story of Rshi Agastya's curse to Raja Nahusha finds mention in the [https://archive.org/stream/Mahabharata04SanskritHindiPanditRamnarayanGitaPress/Mahabharata06_Sanskrit-hindi_panditRamnarayan_gitaPress#page/n419/mode/2up Anushasana Parva], [https://archive.org/stream/Mahabharata04SanskritHindiPanditRamnarayanGitaPress/Mahabharata%2003_%20Sanskrit-Hindi_Pandit%20Ramnarayan_Gita%20Press#page/n39/mode/2up Udyoga Parva] and [https://archive.org/stream/Mahabharata04SanskritHindiPanditRamnarayanGitaPress/Mahabharata%2002_%20Sanskrit-Hindi_Pandit%20Ramnarayan_Gita%20Press#page/n567/mode/2up Vana Parva] of the Mahabharata as well as in the [https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/devi-bhagavata-purana/d/doc57226.html Devi Bhagavata Purana].
The Story:
Devendra killed Vṛttrāsura, an enemy of the gods. As Devendra had resorted to treachery for killing the enemy (see the word Vṛttrāsura) he incurred the sin of ‘Brahmahatyā’. Once indra went to the Mānasasaras, without the knowledge of anybody and hid himself in the petal of a lotus flower. The gods and especially Śacīdevī were much alarmed at the disappearance of Devendra. Heaven was without a King. Bad omens began to appear. indra, who had hidden in the lotus stalk in the shape of a water-snake, was not at all visible as the petals had closed over him. It was at this critical moment that King nahuṣa had completed hundred horse-sacrifices and became eligible for the throne of Devendra. At a great gathering of the Gods nahuṣa was elected as Devendra. Though nahuṣa got all the celestial maids at his disposal in the Nandanodyāna (nandana Garden) his passion for women was not satiated. So he began to have an eye on indrāṇī. She was in sorrow and misery at the disappearance of her husband indra, and did not at all look with favour on this new move on the part of the new indra. She sought the help of bṛhaspati, who agreed to protect her from nahuṣa. The newly-elected indra could not tolerate this disloyalty on the part of indrāṇī. He became furious and threatened bṛhaspati with death, if indrāṇī was not sent to him forthwith. All hermits gathered round nahuṣa and tried with their advice to dissuade him from this attempt, but he would not be dissuaded. nahuṣa belittled bṛhaspati and all the hermits and was rude to them. Finally the hermits, being afraid of nahuṣa, went to bṛhaspati to persuade him to send indrāṇī to nahuṣa. bṛhaspati suggested to indrāṇī a way of safety. Accordingly she came to nahuṣa and said to him “Lord, to become your wife, is a matter of great pleasure to me. But before that I must make sure if my husband is living anywhere. So allow me to make a search”. nahuṣa agreed to this and by the blessings of devī, indrāṇī found out her husband. But indra would not return to the court, with indrāṇī, who then complained about Nahuṣa's outrageous behaviour. indra advised her a new way to protect herself from Nahuṣa's onslaught.
indrāṇī returned to nahuṣa and told him “Lord, women generally love pomp and glory. I have a mania for vehicles. You should make a palanquin. Let the palanquin bearers be hermits. You must come to my house in that palanquin with hermits as your palanquin bearers and then I will accept you as my husband.” nahuṣa agreed. He employed agastya and such other hermits to bear his palanquin. He got into his palanquin and started for Indrāṇī's house. His desire to reach indrāṇī was such that he thought the hermits to be very slow. To make them quick enough he ordered “Sarpa, Sarpa” (walk quick, walk quick). The hermits began to run. Still nahuṣa was not satisfied. He kicked at the heads of the hermits and whipped the dwarfish agastya.
agastya got angry and cursed nahuṣa thus: “Since you have whipped me saying ‘Sarpa Sarpa’, may you be transformed into a mahāsarpa (huge serpent) and fall into the great forest.”(** It is mentioned in the mahābhārata, anuśāsana parva, Chapter 100, that the person who cursed nahuṣa and turned him into a huge serpent, was the hermit bhṛgu, who had been hiding in the hair of agastya.)
The horror-stricken nahuṣa pleased agastya by praise. agastya said that nahuṣa would be freed from the curse and attain heaven when he happened to meet dharmaputra. nahuṣa instantly changed into a serpent of immense size and slided into a great forest in the Himālayās. (devībhāgavata, 8th sarga).
During their sojourn in the forest, the pāṇḍavas visited many holy places and reached the yāmuna mountain in the Himālayās. When bhīma was passing by the mouth of a cave he was attacked by a huge serpent. In spite of his immense strength bhīma could not extricate himself from the hold of the snake, who eventually informed bhīma of its previous history. When bhīma understood that the serpent was none other than nahuṣa, a King of the sūrya dynasty (Solar), he felt sorry for him. dharmaputra, who came there in search of bhīma, talked with nahuṣa, who immediately regained his original form and went to heaven. (mahābhārata, Chapter 17 of Udyoga Parva; Chapter 179 of Vana Parva; Chapter 342 of śānti Parva).<ref name=":0" />
अगस्त्यकर्तृकं विन्ध्यगिरिवृद्धिनिवारणं देवैः सह सागरतटगमनं च (3.104)
अगस्त्यकर्तृकं विन्ध्यगिरिवृद्धिनिवारणं देवैः सह सागरतटगमनं च (3.104)