SAGEAGASTYA- PART 5 Continuedfrom part 4
Sage Agastya in Puranas The Puranic literature of Hinduism has numerous stories aboutAgastya, more elaborate, more fantastical and inconsistent than the legends found in Vedic and Epics literature of India. Biography 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 theSaptarishies (seven great sages), while in others he is one of the eight ortwelve extraordinary sages of the Hindu traditions. He is variously listed along with Angiras, Atri, Bhrigu,Bhargava, Bharadvaja, Visvamitra, Vasistha, Kashyapa, Gautama, Jamadagni andothers. Agastya is reverentially mentioned in the Puranas of allmajor Hindu traditions: Shaivism,Shaktism and Vaishnavism. Many of the Puranas include lengthy anddetailed accounts of the descendants of Agastya and other Saptarishis. Agathiyar, Tamil Nadu In Tamil traditions, Agastya is considered as the father of the Tamil languageand the compiler of the first Tamil grammar, called Agattiyam . Agastyahas been a culture hero in Tamil traditions and appears in numerous Tamiltexts. Agastya learnt theTamil language from god Murugan when he arrived in the southern Tamil countryfrom north India. Variations and similarities among Northern and Southern traditionabout sage Agastya There are similarities and differences between the Northernand Southern (Tamil) traditions about Agastya. According to IravathamMahadevan,both traditionsstate that Agastya migrated from north to south. The Tamil textPurananuru, dated to about the start of the common era, or possibly about 2ndcentury CE, in verse 201 mentions Agastya along with many people migrating to south. In the northern legends, Agastya's role in spreading Vedictradition and Sanskrit isemphasized, while in southern traditions his role in spreading irrigation, agriculture andaugmenting the Tamil language is emphasized. In the north, hisancestry is unknown with legends limiting themselves to saying that Agastya was born from a mud pitcher.In southern traditions, his descent from a pitcher is a common reference, buttwo alternate southernlegends place him as the Caṅkam (Sangam) polity and is said to have led themigration of eighteen Vēlir tribes from Dvārakā to the south. The northern traditional stories, states Mahadevan, are"nothing more than a collection of incredible fables and legends ",while the southern versions "ring much truer and appear to be a down toearth account of a historical event". Others disagree. According to K.N. Sivaraja Pillai, for example,there is nothing in the early Sangam literature or any Tamil texts prior toabout the mid 1st millennium CE that mentions Agastya. The earliest mentionof the role of Agastya in Tamil language, according to Richard Weiss, can betraced to the IraiyanarAkapporul by 8th-century Nakkirar. However, in medieval era storiesof the Tamil tradition, Agastya pioneered the first sangam period that lasted4,440 years, and took part in the second sangam period that lasted another3,700 years. The Tirumantiramdescribes Agastya as an ascetic sage, who came from the north and settled inthe southern Pothigai mountains because Shiva asked him to. He isdescribed as the one who perfected and loved both Sanskrit and Tamil languages,amassing knowledge in both, thus becoming a symbol of integration, harmony andlearning, instead of being opposed to either. According to the Skanda Purana, the whole world visited theHimalayas when Shiva was about to wed Parvati. This caused the earthto tip to one side. Shiva then requested Agastya to go to the southern regionto restore the equilibrium. Thus,Agastya migrated south at Shiva's behest. Siddhar-Agastya Agastya, in Tamil Hindu traditions, is considered as thefirst and foremost Siddhar .A siddhar is derived from the Sanskrit verbal rootsidh which means "to accomplish or succeed". As the first Siddhar,Agastya is deemed as the first master, accomplished, the sage who perfected his knowledgeof the natural and spiritual worlds. Agastya, along withTirumular, isconsidered a siddhar in both philosophical and practical domains, unlike mostother siddhar who are revered for their special domain of knowledge. Agastya isalso unique for the reverence he has received in historic texts all over theIndian subcontinent. According to Venkatraman,the Siddhar-related literature about Agastya is late medieval to early modernera. In particular,all medicine and health-related Tamil text, that include Agastya as theSiddhar, have been composed in and after the 15th century. According to HartmutScharfe, the oldest medicine siddhar Tamil text mentioning Agastya werecomposed no earlier than the 16th century. His name is spelled as Agathiyar or Agasthiyar in some Tamiltexts, and some considerthe writer of the medical texts to be a different person. According to Kamil Zvelebil, the sage Agastya, Akattiyanthe Siddhar, and Akatthiyar, the author of Akattiyam, were three or possiblyfour different persons of different eras, who over time became fused into onesingle According to Anne E. Monius, the Manimekalai and Viracoliyamare 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 legends ,such as the Jataka tales. For example, the Buddhist text Jataka-mala byAryasura, about the Buddha's previous lives, includes Agastya as the seventhchapter. The Agastya-Jataka story is carved as a relief in theBorobudur, the world's largest early medieval era Mahayana Buddhist temple. Javanese and Indiantexts Agastya is one of the most important figures in severalmedieval-era Southeast Asian inscriptions, temple reliefs and arts. He wasparticularly popular in Java due to his teaching of Saiva Siddhanta was easilyaccepted into the Javanese society. He introduced the Vedic science and the Pallavan Grantha script, but hispopularity declined when Islam started to spread throughout the islands ofIndonesia. He is also found in Cambodia, Vietnam and other regions.The earliest mentions of Agastya are traceable to about the mid 1st millenniumCE, but the 11th-century Javanese language text Agastya-parva is a remarkablecombination of philosophy, legends andgenealogy attributed to sage Agastya. The Agastya-parva includes Sanskrit verse (shlokas)embedded within the Javanese language. The text is structured as a conversationbetween a Guru (teacher, Agastya) and a Sisya (student, Agastya's son Drdhasyu).The style is amixture of didactic, philosophical and theological treatise, covering diverserange of topics much like Hindu Puranas. The chapters of the Javanese textinclude the Indian theory of cyclic existence, rebirth and samsara, creation ofthe world by the churning of the ocean (Samudra Manthan), theories of theSamkhya and the Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy, major sections on god Shivaand Shaivism, some discussionof Tantra, a manual-like summary of ceremonies associated with the rites ofpassage and others. Sage Agastya intemples Agastya is common in medieval-era Shiva temples of SoutheastAsia, such as the stone temples in Java (candi). Along with theiconography of Shiva, Uma, Nandi and Ganesha who face particular cardinaldirections, these temples include a sculpture, image or relief of Agastyacarved into the southern face. In Cambodia, the 9th-century king Indravarman,who is remembered for sponsoring the building of a large number of historictemples and related artworks, is declared in the texts of this period to be a descendant of sage Agastya. Agastya Samhita Agastya Samhita is the title of several works in Sanskrit,attributed to Agastya.One of those works is the Agastya Samhita, sometimescalled the Sankara Samhita,a section embedded in the Skanda Purana. It was probablycomposed in late medieval era, but before the 12th-century. It exists in manyversions, and is structured as a dialogue between Skanda and Agastya. Scholars such as MorizWinternitz state that the authenticity of the surviving version of thisdocument is doubtful because Shaiva celebrities such as Skanda andAgastya teach Vaishnavism ideas and the bhakti (devotional worship) of Rama,mixed in with a tourist guide about Shiva temples in Varanasi and other partsof India. Agastimata Agastya is attributed to be the author of Agastimata, apre–10th-century treatiseabout gems and diamonds, with chapters on the origins, qualities,testing and making jewellery from them. Several other Sanskrit texts on gemsand lapidary are also credited to Agastya in the Indian traditions. Other mentions ofAgastya include: The Lalitasahasranama of Shaktism tradition of Hinduism, which describes the 1000 namesof the goddess Lalita is a part of the Brahmanda Purana. It ispresented as a teachingfrom 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 torecite, so that he may win against Ravana. The Tamil text Pattuppattu states Agastya to be master of Isai(music, song). Kalidasa, in his Raghuvaṃśa(6.61) states that Agastya officiated the horse sacrifice of a Pandya king ofMadurai. Temples for Agastya Temples for Agastya are found in Tamil Nadu. In Tirunelveli District, A temple for Agastyar on top of Agastya Mala Agastheeswarar temple in Ambasamudram Agastheeswarar temple in Kallidaikurichi Sri Agasthiyar Temple at Agasthiyar Falls (Kalyana Theertham)in Papanasam In Madurai District, Sri Lopamudra Sameyha Agasthiyar Temple at Vellala Patti (7km from Alagarkovil). Agastya statues or reliefsfeature in numerous early medieval temples of north India, south India andSoutheast Asia. One famous Agastya temple is also located in Uttarakhand in the town ofAgastyamuni. The town derived its name from the name of Sage Agastya. The Dasavatara templein Deogarh (Uttar Pradesh,near Madhya Pradesh border) features a 6th-century Gupta Empire era Agastyacarving. In Karnataka similarly, he isreverentially shown in several 7th-century temples such as the Mallikarjunatemple in Mahakuta and theParvati temple in Sandur. He is a part of many Chalukya era Shaivismtemples in the Indian subcontinent peninsula. The artistic iconography of South Asian and Southeast Asiantemples show common themes such as he holding a pitcher, but also differences. For example, Agastya is featured inside or outside of thetemple walls and sometimes as a guardian at the entrance (dvarapala), with orwithout a potbelly, with or without a receding hairline, with or without adagger and sword.] Rock cut temples and caves, such as the 8th-century Pandyarock temples group, show Agastya. I will be continuingin next posting. Compiled from websitesR. Gopalakrishnan 30-03-2026 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/1008426064.845263.1774859097584%40mail.yahoo.com.
