Vedas Agastya is mentioned in all the four Vedas of
Hinduism, and is a character in the
Brahmanas,
Aranyakas,
Upanishads, epics, and many
Puranas. He is the author of hymns 1.165 to 1.191 of the
Rigveda (~1200 BCE). Agastya successfully reconciles their conflict, makes an offering wherein he prays for understanding and loving-kindness between the two. Twenty one out of the twenty seven hymns he composed in Mandala 1 of the
Rigveda have his signature ending, wherein he appeals, "may each community know refreshment (food) and lively waters". These ideas have led him to be considered as a protector of both the Arya and the Dasa. However, some scholars interpret the same hymns to be an allegory for any two conflicting ideologies or lifestyles, because Agastya never uses the words Arya or Dasa, and only uses the phrase
ubhau varnav (literally, "both colors"). The theme and idea of "mutual understanding" as a means for lasting reconciliation, along with Agastya's name, reappears in section 1.2.2 of the
Aitareya Aranyaka of Hinduism. The second theme, famous in the literature of Hinduism, is a discussion between his wife Lopamudra and him about the human tension between the monastic solitary pursuit of spirituality, versus the responsibility of a householder's life and raising a family. Agastya argues that there are many ways to happiness and liberation, while Lopamudra presents her arguments about the nature of life, time and the possibility of both. She successfully seduces Agastya, in the simile filled Rigvedic hymn 1.179. Agastya is mentioned in both the oldest and the youngest layers of the
Rigveda (–1200 BCE), such as in hymn 33 of mandala 7, which is older than mandala 1. He is also mentioned in the other three Vedas and the
Vedanga literature such as in verses 5.13–14 of the
Nirukta. Agastya and his ideas are cited in numerous other Vedic texts, such as section 7.5.5 of
Taittiriya Samhita, 10.11 of
Kathaka Samhita, 2.1 of
Maitrayani Samhita, 5.16 of
Aitareya Brahmana, 2.7.11 of
Taittiriya Brahmana, and 21.14 of
Pancavimsati Brahmana.
Ramayana . Sage Agastya is mentioned in the Hindu epic
Ramayana in several chapters with his hermitage described to be on the banks of river
Godavari. In the
Ramayana, Agastya and Lopamudra are described as living in
Dandaka forest, on the southern slopes of Vindhya mountains. Rama praises Agastya as the one who can do what gods find impossible. He is described by Rama as the sage who asked Vindhya mountains to lower themselves so that Sun, Moon and living beings could easily pass over it. He is also described as the sage who used his
Dharma powers to kill demons Vatapi and Ilwala after they had jointly misled and destroyed 9,000 men. Agastya, according to the
Ramayana, is a unique sage, who is short and heavy in build, but by living in the south he balances the powers of
Shiva and the weight of Kailasha and Mount Meru. Agastya and his wife meet Rama, Sita and Lakshmana. He gives them a divine bow and arrow, describes the evil nature of Ravana and, according to William Buck, B. A. van Nooten and Shirley Triest, bids them goodbye with the advice, "Rama, demons do not love men, therefore men must love each other".
Mahabharata The story of Agastya is mirrored in the second major Hindu epic
Mahabharata. However, instead of Rama, the story is told as a conversation between Yudhishthira and Lomasa starting with section 96 of Book 3, the
Vana Parva (the Book of Forest). He is described in the epic as a sage with enormous powers of ingestion and digestion. Agastya, once again, stops the Vindhya mountains from growing and lowers them and he kills the demons Vatapi and Ilvala much the same mythical way as in the
Ramayana. The
Vana Parva also describes the story of Lopamudra and Agastya getting engaged and married. It also contains the mythical story of a war between Indra and Vritra, where all the demons hide in the sea, and the gods request Agastya for help; Agastya then drinks up the ocean, revealing the demons to the gods.
Puranas The
Puranic literature of Hinduism has numerous stories about Agastya, more elaborate, more fantastical and inconsistent than the mythologies found in Vedic and Epics literature of India. For example, chapter 61 of the
Matsya Purana, chapter 22 of
Padma Purana, and seven other Maha
Puranas tell the entire biography of Agastya. Some list him as one of the
Saptarishi (seven great
rishi), while in others he is one of the eight or twelve extraordinary sages of the Hindu traditions. The names and details are not consistent across the different Puranas, nor in different manuscript versions of the same Purana. He is variously listed along with Angiras, Atri, Bhrigu, Bhargava, Bharadvaja, Visvamitra, Vasistha, Kashyapa, Gautama, Jamadagni and others. Agastya is reverentially mentioned in the Puranas of all major Hindu traditions: Shaivism, Shaktism and Vaishnavism. Many of the Puranas include lengthy and detailed accounts of the descendants of Agastya and other
Saptarishis.
Tamil texts In Tamil traditions, Agastya is considered as the
father of the Tamil language and the compiler of the first
Tamil grammar, called
Agattiyam or
Akattiyam. There are similarities and differences between the Northern and Southern (Tamil) traditions about Agastya. According to
Iravatham Mahadevan, both traditions state that Agastya migrated from north to south. The Tamil text
Purananuru, dated to about the start of the common era, or possibly about 2nd century CE, in verse 201 mentions Agastya along with many people migrating south. In the northern legends, Agastya's role in spreading Vedic tradition and Sanskrit is emphasized, while in southern traditions his role in spreading irrigation, agriculture and augmenting the Tamil language is emphasized. The northern traditional stories, states Mahadevan, are "nothing more than a collection of incredible fables and myths", while the southern versions "ring much truer and appear to be a down to earth account of a historical event". The earliest mention of the role of Agastya in Tamil language, according to Richard Weiss, can be traced to the
Iraiyanar Akapporul by 8th-century Nakkirar. However, in medieval era stories of the Tamil tradition, Agastya pioneered the first
sangam period that lasted 4,440 years, and took part in the second
sangam period that lasted another 3,700 years. The
Tirumantiram describes Agastya as an ascetic sage, who came from the north and settled in the southern
Pothigai mountains because
Shiva asked him to. He is described as the one who perfected and loved both Sanskrit and Tamil languages, amassing knowledge in both, thus becoming a symbol of integration, harmony and learning, instead of being opposed to either. According to the
Skanda Purana, the whole world visited the Himalayas when
Shiva was about to wed
Parvati. This caused the earth to tip to one side. Shiva then requested Agastya to go to the southern region to restore the equilibrium. Thus, Agastya migrated south at Shiva's behest.
Siddhar , with garlands of fruits and flowers. Agastya, in Tamil Hindu traditions, is considered as the first and foremost
Siddhar (Tamil:
cittar, Sanskrit:
siddha). A
siddhar is derived from the Sanskrit verbal root
sidh which means "to accomplish or succeed". As the first
Siddhar, Agastya is deemed as the first master, accomplished, the sage who perfected his knowledge of the natural and spiritual worlds. This Tamil concept has parallels to Tibetan
mahasiddhas, Sri Lankan Buddhist, and
Nath Hindu yogi traditions of north India. Agastya, along with Tirumular, is considered a
siddhar in both philosophical and practical domains, unlike most other
siddhar who are revered for their special domain of knowledge. Agastya is also unique for the reverence he has received in historic texts all over the Indian subcontinent. According to Venkatraman, the
Siddhar-related literature about Agastya is late medieval to early modern era. In particular, all medicine and health-related Tamil text, that include Agastya as the
Siddhar, have been composed in and after the 15th century. According to Hartmut Scharfe, the oldest medicine siddhar Tamil text mentioning Agastya were composed no earlier than the 16th century. His name is spelled as
Agathiyar or
Agasthiyar in some Tamil texts, and some consider the writer of the medical texts to be a different person. According to
Kamil Zvelebil, the sage Agastya,
Akattiyan the
Siddhar, and Akatthiyar, the author of
Akattiyam, were three or possibly four different persons of different eras, who over time became fused into one single person in the Tamil tradition.
Buddhist texts Several Buddhist texts mention Agastya. Just like early Buddhist texts such as
Kalapa,
Katantra and
Candra-vyakarana adapting Panini, and Asvaghosa adopting the more ancient Sanskrit poetic methodology as he praises the
Buddha, Agastya appears in 1st millennium CE Buddhist texts. In Tamil texts, for example, Akattiyan is described as the sage who learnt Tamil and Sanskrit grammar and poetics from Avalokitan (another name for Buddha-to-be
Avalokiteśvara). . Agastya iconography is common in southeast Asian temples. According to
Anne E. Monius, the
Manimekalai and
Viracoliyam are two of many South Indian texts that co-opt Agastya and make him a student of the Buddha-to-be. Agastya elsewhere appears in other historic Buddhist mythologies, such as the Jataka tales. For example, the Buddhist text
Jataka-mala by Aryasura, about the Buddha's previous lives, includes Agastya as the seventh chapter. The
Agastya-Jataka story is carved as a relief in the
Borobudur, the world's largest early medieval era
Mahayana Buddhist temple.
Javanese and Indian texts Agastya is one of the most important figures in several medieval-era Southeast Asian inscriptions, temple reliefs and arts. He was particularly popular in Java due to his teaching of Saiva Siddhanta was easily accepted into the Javanese society. He introduced the Vedic science and the Pallavan Grantha script, but his popularity declined when Islam started to spread throughout the islands of Indonesia. He is also found in Cambodia, Vietnam and other regions. The earliest mentions of Agastya are traceable to about the mid 1st millennium CE, but the 11th-century Javanese language text
Agastya-parva is a remarkable combination of philosophy, mythology and genealogy attributed to sage Agastya. The
Agastya-parva includes Sanskrit verse (
shlokas) embedded within the Javanese language. The text is structured as a conversation between a
Guru (teacher, Agastya) and a
Sisya (student, Agastya's son Drdhasyu). The style is a mixture of didactic, philosophical and theological treatise, covering diverse range of topics much like Hindu Puranas. The chapters of the Javanese text include the Indian theory of cyclic existence, rebirth and
samsara, creation of the world by the churning of the ocean (
samudra manthan), theories of the
Samkhya and the
Vedanta school of
Hindu philosophy, major sections on god
Shiva and
Shaivism, some discussion of
Tantra, a manual-like summary of ceremonies associated with the rites of passage and others. While the similarities between the
Agastya-parva text and classical Indian ideas are obvious, according to
Jan Gonda, the Indian counterpart of this text in Sanskrit or Tamil languages have not been found in Indonesia or in India. Similarly other Agastya-related Indonesian texts, dated to be from the 10th to 12th centuries, discuss ideas from multiple sub-schools of Shaivism such as theistic Shaivasiddhanta and monistic Agamic Pashupata, and these texts declare these theologies to be of equal merit and value. temple unearthed from volcanic mud. Agastya is common in medieval-era Shiva temples of Southeast Asia, such as the stone temples in Java (
candi). Along with the iconography of Shiva, Uma, Nandi and Ganesha who face particular cardinal directions, these temples include a sculpture, image or relief of Agastya carved into the southern face. The Shiva shrine in the largest Hindu temple complex in southeast Asia,
Prambanan, features four cellae in its interior. This central shrine within Prambanan group of temples dedicates its southern cella to Agastya. The Dinoyo inscription, dated to 760 CE, is primarily dedicated to Agastya. The inscription states that his older wooden image was remade in stone, thereby suggesting that the reverence for Agastya iconography in southeast Asia was prevalent in an older period. In
Cambodia, the 9th-century king Indravarman, who is remembered for sponsoring the building of a large number of historic temples and related artworks, is declared in the texts of this period to be a descendant of sage Agastya.
Agastya Samhita Agastya Saṁhitā (literally: "Agastya's Compendium") is the title of several works in Sanskrit, attributed to Agastya. One of those works is the
Agastya Samhita, sometimes called the
Sankara Samhita, a section embedded in the
Skanda Purana. It was probably composed in late medieval era, but before the 12th-century. It exists in many versions, and is structured as a dialogue between
Skanda and Agastya. Scholars such as
Moriz Winternitz state that the authenticity of the surviving version of this document is doubtful because Shaiva celebrities such as Skanda and Agastya teach
Vaishnavism ideas and the bhakti (devotional worship) of
Rama, mixed in with a tourist guide about Shiva temples in
Varanasi and other parts of India.
Agastimata Agastya is attributed to be the author of
Agastimata, a pre–10th-century treatise about gems and diamonds, with chapters on the origins, qualities, testing and making jewellery from them. Several other Sanskrit texts on gems and
lapidary are also credited to Agastya in the Indian traditions.
Others Other mentions of Agastya include: •
Bṛhaddevatā in section 5.134. • The
Lalita sahasranama of
Shaktism tradition of Hinduism, which describes the 1000 names of the goddess
Lalita is a part of the
Brahmanda Purana. It is presented as a teaching from Hayagriya (an avatar of
Viṣṇu) to Agastya. • Agastya is credited as the creator of the
Āditya Hṛdayam (literally, "heart of the sun"), a hymn to
Sūrya he told Rama to recite, so that he may win against Ravana. Scholars such as John Muir questioned this hymn since the need for a such a hymn by Rama implies doubts about his divine nature. •
Lakshmi Stotram and
Saraswati Stotram. • The Tamil text
Pattuppattu states Agastya to be master of
icai (music, song). •
Kalidasa, in his
Raghuvaṃśa (6.61) states that Agastya officiated the
horse sacrifice of a
Pandya king of
Madurai. • One of the authors of
Nadi Shastra / Nadi astrology ==Legacy==