Rishi Agastya

Rishi Agasthya is one of the greatest seers of the Vedas. Rishi is a title given to the great seers of the Vedas. His name means Aga means mountain and astya is subdued. His name refers to the time her subdued the Vindhayachal mountains. The Vindhyachal mountain range divides North and South India in the middle. These mountains had the tendency to grow so high that they obscured the Sun. When Rishi Agastya journeyed from north to south, and on the way encountered the now impassable Vindhyachal mountains. He asked the mountain range to facilitate his passage across to the south. In reverence for so eminent a sage as Agastya, the Vindhyachal mountains bent low enough to enable the sage and his family to cross over and enter south India. The Vindhyachal range also promised not to increase in height until Agastya and his family returned to the northern solstice. Agastya settled permanently in the south, and the Vindhyachal range, true to its word, never grew further. ( more below)

Rishi Agastya is considered as the first and foremost Siddha (knowledge and accomplishments), and therefore the guru of many Siddhars. Another name for Rsi Agastya is Kurumuni (short muni). Rishi Agastya made pioneering contributions to the field of Ayurveda (alternative medicine) and Jyotish (Vedic Astrology particularly Nadi Astrology). Rishi Agastya lived for over 5000 years, and one of his medicinal preparations, Boopathi Kuligai, was so powerful that it could even bring the dead back to life. Two of his disciples were Therayar and Tholkappiar carried this knowledge forward for him.

Brahma had ten Maanas (mind born) sons who were great Rishi’s called: Angiras, Atri, Bhrigu, Daksha, Kratu, Marichi, Narada, Pulaha, Pulastya, and Vashishta; of which Rishi Pulastya was married to Havirbhoo one of the nine daughters of Rishi Kardam and Devhooti. Rishi Pulastya and Havirbhoo had two sons: Maharishi Agastya and Maharishi Vishravaa. Rishi Agastya was named because of his Karma. His wife was a princess and was called Lopaamudraa and is mentioned Lalitha Sahasranama (Thousand Names of the Goddess – a Sacred composition). Rishi Agastya is associated with the Sthira Rashi’s of the Drekkana.

Rishi Agastya is best known for

The Lalitha Sahasranama, which sing the praises of the Goddess through her thousand names and so is deeply pleasing to the divine mother (also known as Durga, Saraswati, Lakshmi, etc) that it has the power to give moksha when repeated enough times with deep sincerity. This composition was first revealed to the world when an incarnation of Vishnu Hayagriva taught the hymn to Rsi Agastya.

The Aditya Hridayam (A hymn to Surya deva – pacifiess most flaws of the Sun and pleases him a great deal.) is also said to be composed by Rsi Agastya and taught personally by him to Sri Ram just before the war between Sri Rama and Ravana.

Rishi Agastya also composed the Saraswati Stotram. (Saraswati is the Goddess of all knowledge, music and singing.)

Humbling the Vindhyachal mountains

Meru Parvat (mountain) is the highest peak in the world and by its nature grows a little everyday. Vindhyaachal Parvat (mountain) was so jealous of Meru that he started to rise up even higher. The Vindhyachal mountain ranges which separate north and south India wished to grow so high as to block the Sun. Day was turned into night and the movements of the Sun and Moon became irregular making the vedic rituals based on their movements irregular too. The gods prayed to Rishi Agastya to do something about this with his siddhis and subdue the Vindhya Mountains. Rishi Agastya decided that he would move to southern India in order to accomplish this task for the gods. When he came with his wife to the Vindhyachal mountain and saw his height and humbly requested the mountain to lower it self so that he and his wife could pass. The Vindhyachal mountain was a great worshipper of saints and Rsi’s felt very humbled by and honoured by such a request from a person of Rishi Agastya’s magnitude and agreed to not only lower himself so the that the Rishi and his family could walk accross but to stay low until they returned. Rishi Agastya never returned and permanantly settled in Southern India and went onto to produce the famous Rishi Agastya Nadis (palm leaf books of knowledge) click here for more on palm leaves and Nadi. It is also from this that Vastu Shastra reportedly originated as the movements of the Sun and Moon also became regular.

Rishi Agastya and Lopamudra

ishi Agastya was once visiting heaven, he saw his deceased ancestors suspended with their head downwards. Agastya was surprised because this was a sign that they were preparing to go to hell. Agastya asked them what wrong had they committed. They told him that it was Agastya's fault that they would go to hell. Rishi Agastya did not have a son; in fact he was not even married. Hence the lineage would end with him. Then there would be no one to offer prayers on their behalf and they, Agastya included, would all go to hell, Agastya assured his ancestors that he would do the needful. But the task was easier said than done because there was no woman on earth worthy of his qualities and stature. So the Rishi with his ascetic and yogic powers created a female infant who possessed all the special qualities of character and personality that would be appropriate in the wife of a Rishi and called the infant Lopamudra.

t that time the king of Vidarbha was undergoing austerities in order to obtain an offspring Rsi Agastya decided to gift this child to the noble and virtuous king of Vidarbha. When Lopamudra was of marriageable age, Rsi Agastya approached the King and asked for the hand his daughter. The king was very disturbed to have such a request made of him by a renunciate, Especially as it was this Rsi that had donated the child to him in the first place. However, the king was also aware that his daughter had from childhood exhibited a very unusually high sense of discipline and charcacter, and had been naturally inclined to fasting, worship, penances etc. Lopamudra upon learning of the proposal insisted that her father accept. Lopamudra was happy to marry Rsi Agastya, however her father placed a condition that Rishi Agastya had to fulfil if the marriage was to take place. The king asked Agastya to get enough money so that his daughter would not have to live a life of total hardship. In order fulfil this condition Agastya approached king Srutarvan for assistance. The king was more than willing to help, but Rsi Agastya in his greatness had put an unusual condition. He had insisted that the king should not give him wealth by depriving any other person of assistance. When the king demonstrated the equality of his income and expenditure (which included substantial charity) Agastya refused to take any assistance. Srutarvan then took Agastya to a greater king, Vradhnaswa, but the same story was repeated there. Then the three of them went to king Trasadasyu, but with the same outcome. Trasadasyu explained that only a Demon king would be able to meet Rishi Agastya's requirement because he gave no wealth in charity but accumulated it.

Accordingly they went to the Demon king Ilwala who had a younger brother named Vatapi, who had developed a very unusual power. He could transform himself into any creature. Then the creature could be cut up into any number of pieces and strewn about. When Ilwala summoned Vatapi with the mritsanjivani mantra, the pieces would join together with great force to reform the creature. The Demon brothers would use this technique to destroy brahmins. Vatapi would transform himself into a goat. His flesh would then be cooked and given to brahmins to eat, flavoured and disguised as a vegetarian dish. After the brahmins had eaten their fill, Ilwala would summon his brother and the pieces of the goat would burst through the stomachs of the brahmins, killing them.

When the three kings and Rishi Agastya arrived at Ilwala's court, the king decided to use the goat technique to kill them. After due courtesies dishes containing the goat were served to the guests. Rsi Agastya knew beforehand about the plan due to his immense Siddhi’s so Rishi Agastya ate all the dishes himself and said “Vathapi Jeer No bhava” which literally means may Vathapi be digested. Ilwala then made many attempts to summon his brother but all that happened was a loud belch by the Rishi. Ilwala kept on repeating his command, but to no avail. Rsi Agastya laughed and said, "He cannot come out now. I have completely digested him." Though Ilwala was saddened at the death of his brother he asked the Rishi of what service he could be. Agastya repeated his request and condition. Ilwala then gave the sage more than he needed. In addition he gave a golden chariot and two super-fast steeds so that Rsi Agastya would reach his hermitage very quickly.

At the hermitage Rishi Agastya gave the excess wealth to the three kings and thanked them for their time and company. With the wealth obtained from Ilwala, Rishi Agastya was able to satisfy all of the king Vidarbha’s conditions. In time Rishi Agastya asked for the hand of Lopamudra in marriage. 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. On their union Lopamudra asked for a son endowed with great power. Agastya asked her if she would like a thousand sons, or a hundred sons who are ten times as powerful as the first or ten who are a hundred times as powerful as the first or one son who is a thousand times as powerful as a thousand sons? Lopamudra chose one son. Agastya went to the forest after Lopamudra conceived and bore the embryo for seven years whilst Rishi Agastya meditated after which a resplendent son was born called Dridhasyu. Rishi Agastya’s ancestors no longer had to hang upside down but obtained the regions of heaven that they desired.

Nimisha Khatri