Agastya (अगस्त्यः)

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वंशावली ॥ Ancestry

The Puranic encyclopaedia traces the ancestry of Rshi Agastya right up to Lord Brahma.

Ancestry of Agastya

इल्वलः वातापिः च । Ilvala and Vatapi

Ilvala was a daitya (son of Diti) who lived in Manimati. Vatapi was his younger brother. Once Ilvala approached a tapasvi brahmana and requested that he be granted with a son as powerful as Indra. However, the brahmana refused the same. This enraged Ilvala and since then, filled with anger, Ilvala began to destroy brahmanas. The elder brother converted the younger one (Vatapi) into a goat and served him as the meal everytime to a brahmana visited his house, he would kill the goat, prepare mutton dishes and set them before his guest. When he had finished eating, ilvala would call aloud. “Vātāpi, come out”. Breaking the stomach of the guest open, vātāpi would come out. In this way ilvala had killed a good number of Brāhmins. It was at this juncture that agastya and the Kings came to beg money of him.

While agastya was doing severe penance, lopāmudrā attained puberty and had menstruation. Longing for a child, she went and stood beside agastya. She expressed her wish to lead a family life. Her demands did not stop there. During conjugation, agastya should wear flower garlands and ornaments, and she must be provided with divine ornaments. agastya was surprised at the enormity of her demands. Poor, penniless Agastya! Leaving lopāmudrā in the hermitage he went in search of money. He at first approached King śrutarvā, who produced accounts of his income and expenditure and convinced agastya that he was having no balance at all. agastya, accompanied by śrutarvā, then proceeded to King bradhnāśva. He also produced accounts and refused to help agastya, who then followed by śrutarvā and bradhnāśva went on to the wealthy King trasadasyu, who also producing his accounts refused to render any help to agastya. Finally agastya accompanied by the three Kings, went to the house of ilvala, a noble asura of immense wealth.

ilvala welcomed the guests with hospitality and as usual killed the goat, prepared food with it and served the food before agastya. When agastya had finished eating, ilvala called vātāpi loudly. But agastya slowly said, “Vātāpi, jīrṇo bhava” (Let vātāpi be digested) and immediately vātāpi was digested in the stomach of agastya. The awe-stricken asura ilvala gave each Brahmin ten thousand cows and as much gold and to agastya he doubled the quantity of alms. Over and above this, he presented agastya with a chariot hitched with two fine horses called Virāvān and surāvān. agastya returned to his hermitage and adorned himself as lopāmudrā had demanded. (mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 99).

Agastya and the Vindhyas

Once the talebearer Narada happened to come to the Vindhya mountain, who gladly welcomed Narada, gave him a seat, showed hospitality and asked for news. Narada said “May you be blessed. Just now I am coming from the Mahameru. Indra, Agni (fire) and other deities live there. Kailasa, Nishadha, Nila, Gandhamadana etc. are mountains far nobler than this Meru. But they are not so haughty as him. That the Sun and the Moon and such others revolve round him, is the reason for his arrogance”. On hearing these tales, Vindhya thought that Meru should be taught a lesson. Once vindhya made his peaks grow higher and higher till they touched the sky. The Sun, the Moon and others found it very difficult to pass over the high peaks in their usual journeys to the West, and so they had to roam about in the sky. When the journeys of the Sun and the Moon were hindered, everything in the world fell into chaos. The deities approached sage Agastya and made their petition to him. And he agreed to pacify Vindhya somehow or the other. With this objective, sage Agastya and his wife came to Vindhya from Kashinagara. When Vindhya saw sage Agastya, he began to shiver with fear. Contracting all his high peaks, he bowed before the sage, who then said to the mountain thus “Vindhya, I am going to South Bharata. Let your heads be low till I come back” and Vindhya agreed. Sage Agastya then went on to the South, built a hermitage in the Malayachala and lived there. 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.

अगस्त्यकर्तृकं विन्ध्यगिरिवृद्धिनिवारणं देवैः सह सागरतटगमनं च (3.104)

पञ्चाधिकशततमोऽध्यायः

तीर्थयात्रापर्व

अगस्त्येन समुद्रसलिले पीते सति देवैर्दैत्यसंहारः पुनः समुद्रपूरणविषये देवानां ब्रह्माणं प्रति प्रश्नः

षडधिकशततमोऽध्यायः

तीर्थयात्रापर्व

राज्ञः सागरस्य सन्तानार्थं तपः शिवकर्तृकं वरप्रदानं च