Rishi Agastya: The complete lifestory and his contributions

Origin Story of Sage Agastya

Saga Agastya is one of the renowned saints in India. Father of Sage Agastya was Sage Pulasthya. He belongs to the order of Sapta Rishi. His mother was celestial Maiden (Apsara) Urvasi, who is bestowed with the power of levitation. It is important to note that Sapta Rishi, are revered saints, born to Lord Brahma. They are bestowed with a Special responsibility of establishing, culture, humanity, for the benefit of mankind. They were blessed by god with power, knowledge and wisdom.

Sage Agastya is also called ‘Kuda Muhi’ as he was born in a pot. Birth of Sage Agastya  was another legend, where he was born in a  pot, where Lord Varuh, The Segagod and Lord Mitra deposited their sperms. It was during a sacred ritual and the pot was submitted inside the holypyre.

According to some other legends he was born in Kashi near about 3000 years ago on Shrava Shukla Panchami. At present this place is famous as ‘Agastya Kund’ The name of his wife was Lopamudra, a princes born in the kingdom of Vidarbha. Her parents were unwilling to marry her to Agastya, but Lopamudra accepted him as a her husband. Agastya and Lopamudra have a son named Drdhasyu, sometimes called Idhmavaha. He is described in Mahabharata as a boy who learns the Vedas listening to his parents while he was in womb, and is born into the world reciting hymns.

Agastya had a Ashram, two legends place it in Northwest Maharashtra, on the bank of river Godavari, Near Nashik, in small towns named Agastyapuri and Akola. Other legend is near Kannauj (Uttar Pradesh) or in Agastyamuni village. Near Rudraprayaga (Uttarakhand) or Soptpura Range (Madhya Pradesh). In Southern, resources and North Indian Devi Bhagavata Purana, his ashram is based in Tamil Nadu, variously placed in Tirunelveli, Pothiyal hills or Thanjavar. Facing east, he penance upon a rock  at Kanyakumari, immediately after the beginning of Kalyog. It is also considered that his final resting place is in Agastyarkodam in Thirovanathapuram.

Sage Agastya and Lopamudra are described in the Ramayana, as living in Dandak Forest, on the Sourthern slopes of Vidhya Mountain. He is described by Rama as the Sage who asked Vindhya Mountain to lower themselves to that Sun, Mon and living being could easily pass over it. He is also described as the Sage who killed demons Vatapi  and Ilwala after they had jointly misled and destroyed, 9,000 men Sage Agastya gives bow arrow to Rama and described the evil nature of Ravana.

Sage Agastya is also described in Mahabharata in the book  ‘Vanaparva’. It also contains the mythical story of a war between Indra and Vritra, where all the demons hide in the sea, Gods requesting Agastya for help, who then goes and drinks up the ocean, thereby revealing all the demons to the Gods.

Contributions of Sage Agastya

Agastya is mentioned in all four Vedas of Hinduism and is a character in the , Brahamans Arnyakas, Upnishads, epics and Puranas. He is the author of hymns 1.165 to 1.191 of the Rigveda ( 1200 BCE, He ran a vedic school (Gurukul). The hyms composed by Agastya are known for verbal play and rimlies, puzzles and purs, and striking imagery embedded with his spiritual messages.

The Puranic literature of hindusim has many stories about Agastya, for example- Chapter -61 of the Matsya Puran Chapter 22 of Padam Puran, Seven other Moha Pura tells either biography of Sage Agastya.

In Tamil Agastya is considered as the father of language. Temples for Agastya are found in Tamil Nadu. They include the Shri Agasthiyar Temple at Agasthiyae Fall (Kalyana Teertham) in Papanasam (Thirunelveli District) and Shri Kopamudra  samedha Agasthiyar Temple in the Arulmigu Chdambara Vinayagar Thirukoil at A. Veelapatti (Madhurai District) 7 km from Alogarkovil.

Agastya statues are also found in North India, South India and Southest Asia. Sage Agastya is also known as father of martial arts and varman an ancient science of healing for varied diseases. Murugan the son of Shiva, is said to have taught Varumam to Agastya.

Rishi Agastya invented battery 4000 backs in Bharat. The basic formula for creating electricity is based on the ancient principles of sage Agastya. In his book ‘Agastya Samhita’, the sources related to power generation are found in this book. He also tells in this book that water can be divided into Hydrogen and Oxygen.

Agastya Samhita also gives details of using Electricity for Electroplating. He figured out the method of polishing copper or gold or silver by the battery. Due to such brilliant invention, Rishi Agastya is also known as Kumbodhbhav (Battery Born.)