Janma Masam: Dhanur Janma Nakshatram : Aayilyam Duration of life: 4 Yugas 48 Days. As this is the fourth Yuga, He is still present between us. Meaning of Name Agasthya: The name Agasthya means “mover of mountain”, wherein, ‘Aga’ stands for mountain and ‘sthya’ stands for the person who has command over mountains. STORY BEHIND BIRTH OF AGASTHYA: The creation of Agasthya was meant for the welfare of both God and mankind .Brahma is the creator of all living beings. He is one among the Trimurthi’s. Agasthya is the great grandson of Brahma. Brahma’s son is Marisi. Marisi’s son is Kashyap. Kashyap married Thithi, and twelve children were born to them. Out of these twelve, two were Mithra and Varuna. All these twelve children were working in IndraLoka. It is common that fights takes place between the demons (asura’s) and the Gods (Deva’s) in IndraLoka. The Demons were jealous of the peace and calm that prevailed in Gods region. They tried to kill the Gods. At that time, the Lord of all God’s, Indra, killed the demons and saved the Gods. At this time, a Demon named Vrittasuran, along with Kalakeya, created a lot of trouble to the Gods for a long time, and each time escaped from Indra’s clutches. Indra became frustrated and then came up with a detailed plan to kill both these demons and killed Vrittasuran. But Kalakeya, fearing Indra, left IndraLoka and came to Earth, where human beings resided. Earth was a place which praised the Gods. Kalakeya did not like it. So he killed the people, especially the Sadhu’s, Sanyasi’s and Brahmins and ate them. All these people then started to pray to Lord Vishnu (Sthithikarta), to save them from the clutches of this Demon. Lord Vishnu called for a meeting of all the Gods along with Indra, and told them that they need to somehow kill this Demon and save people. Indra felt bad that due to his fear, the Demon had escaped IndraLoka and was troubling people on Earth. At that time, he ordered the Brahma’s great grandsons, the one who is the owner of water, Varuna, and the one who is the owner of wind, Mithra, to find the demon. Kalakeya came to know about this proceeding. He hid in the Ocean, to escape being caught by their eyes. He started to come out at night time and killed the people. So people again went to Lord Vishnu and prayed to Him to save their lives. Here Mithra and Varuna feared the outrage of Indra, as they had not completed the task assigned to them by Indra. So they prayed to Lord Eeshwaran and meditated by remembering Him. Eeshwaran told them that the only solution to their problem lies in the emptying of the Ocean. So they need to find a person who can drink the entire Ocean. Both Mithra and Varuna were compelled to create such a person, who had the ferocity of Fire, or its equivalent strength/personality. Hence they approached Lord Brahma and told Him their problems and the solution given by Lord Eeshwaran. Lord Brahma, told them that in order to create such a child, a female is required, and showed Urvashi, an Apsare Kannika, for this purpose; and blessed them to have a child of that calibre. Mithra and Varuna were both mesmerised by Urvashi’s beauty. At that time, both released their semen on Kumbham, and Kumbhavataram took birth, equivalent to the ferocity of Fire; along with Vashishtha. The person who took birth from Kumbha, came to be known as Agasthya. They brought him up, with the knowledge and work that needs to be done by him. FEW FACTS Agasthya Darshana Puja: It means worship of Agasthya Star at night, after seeing it. Agasthya Kunda: This is the name of a sacred place in Varanasi. Agasthya Kuta: A sacred mount in South India, where sage Agasthay did penance during his travel. When Surgriva’s soldiers were going in search for Sita Devi, he commanded them to pay homage to Agasthya Muni. This is also called as Agasthya Parvata. Agasthya Malai: An ancient hill, located in Travancore. It is the source of the river Tamraparni. Agasthya Pada: Name of a sacred place in Gaya. Agasthya Pandita: He was a Sanskrit poet and public speaking person, in the Court of Prataparudra Deva of Warangal. He was a poet of great learning, which earned him the name of “Vidyanatha”. Agasthya Samhita: This is Agsthya’s collection of laws.

After His birth, Agasthya was waiting for the right time to do his duty. He took the Blessings of Mithra, Varuna and all his Ancestors and descended on Earth. Agasthya was looking like a fire (Jyothi), so fierce. He took the Ocean in his palm and drank it. His stomach swelled due to this and the Ocean became completely drained. This helped Indra to kill Kalakeya. As Agasthya drank the Ocean, drought set in Earth. So a saint called Bhagirathi, brought Ganges and re-filled the Ocean with his Power. After this Agasthya was required to work in Indraloka and got involved in its activities If Indra would have killed Kalakeya in IndraLoka, then it won’t have been considered wrong. But since he came to Earth and killed Kalakeya here, he got the “Brahmahatya Dosham”. So he was not able to sit on his throne and take care of the daily activities. Hence Indra took refuge at Manasarovar and hid in the Lotus Flower. Indra’s wife SachiDevi faced a lot of trouble; Indrasabha got emptied and nobody was there to run it. All the Angels, Apsara’s and Gods too faced a lot of troubles as there was nobody to guide them. At that time, a demon called Naghushan, was waiting for the right opportunity to rule IndraLoka. He prayed to Lord Eeshwaran and meditated. Eeshwaran appeared before him and asked him his wish. He told all his desires and asked the Lord to provide him with the strength and ability to rule IndraLoka. Eeshwaran told him to perform Ashwamedha yajyana’s (yaga) 100 times, and by doing so his wish will be fulfilled. Saying so Lord blessed him. Naghushan got selfish and determined to rule IndraLoka. So he performed the Ashwamedha Yajyna 100 times. Due to this, he got the powers and experience equivalent to rule IndraLoka. He put forth his proposal to rule IndraLoka. So all the Yaksha’s, Gandharva’s and Rishi’s welcomed him, as they didn’t want to see an empty throne. Naghushan became Indra, the Lord of DevaLoka. But since he was basically a demon, he had all wrong thoughts and was interested in all the pleasures. He spent his time with Apsaraas and Kannika’s. But still his thirst for pleasure was not quenched. When he saw Indra’s wife Sachidevi, he expressed his desire to sleep with her and have all the pleasures. Sachidevi postponed his desire day after day. SachiDevi got too much troubled by this, as her husband was not there. So she prayed to Goddess. Goddess appeared and told him the place where Indra was hiding and the reason behind his situation. Sachidevi met Indra and told him about her problem. Indra got interested to rule his Kingdom and protect his wife. So He devised a plan to save her and also to get back his kingdom. As per the plan, Indrani (sachidevi) asked Naghushan to come to her place, but on a condition. Naghushan asked her the condition. She said that Naghushan should come on a palanquin (pallakku), carried by the Rishis. As per Indra’s plan, he knew that the Demon would misuse the Rishis service and get their curse, by which Naghushan will be forced to leave the IndraLoka, and he will be able to get his throne back. Naghushan was very delighted to hear that Sachidevi had finally called him. He became very eager to see her, and in his haste, ordered all the Rishis who were nearby to him to carry him to Indrani’s place. One of the rishis who was carrying the palanquin was Agasthya. Impelled by his desire for Indrani, Naghushan asked the rishis to walk faster. But Agasthya had already the weight of Ocean in his stomach, due to which he could not walk faster, and carried on with his own slow face. Angered by this, Naghushan kicked Agasthya with his feet and ordered him to move fast like a snake (“Sarpa”, Sarpa”). Agasthya also got angered by this and cursed him by saying “Sarpo Bhava”, meaning “You turn into a snake”, due to which Naghushan immediately turned into a python (snake) and fell down from the palanquin. Naghushan repented for his mistake and asked for Maharishi’s forgiveness. He understood his mistake and surrendered to Agasthya and asked for a route to salvation. As he realized his mistake and also accepted it, Maharishi told him that he will get salvation in Pandava vamsha, through the hands of the exceptional (Shreshtha) Dharmaraaj. The python (Naghushan) accepted this, and came to Earth awaiting for the birth of Pandava’s. He crawled from one forest to another for many years in this process. The Pandava’s period came. When they were in forest, Draupadi got attracted to Soundika flowers and asked Bhima to get it for her. Bhima went in search for these flowers, following its fragnance. He found the Soundika Flower, and just as he was about to uproot it, the python (Naghushan) appears and catches hold of him. He (Bhima) calls out to Dharmarajan’s (Yudhishter) help. When Dharmarajan arrives there, and gives his identity, the python releases Bhima, and asks for Dharmarajan’s forgiveness and thus gets salvation. So by teaching a lesson to Naghushan, Indra got his throne back and even his Brahmahatya Dosha got over, Indrani too became happy on having Indra back.

When Pandavas were in exile, they were in proximity of Himalaya Mountains. Arjuna gets separated from his brothers, in order to obtain heavenly weapons. He meets Lord Shiva (disguised as Kirata), Yama, Varuna, Kubera and Indra who give him irresistible weapons. In Indra’s heaven, Arjuna resides for 5 years, learning there the art of singing and dancing. Dharmaputra gets tensed, when Arjuna doesn’t return back for long. All the brothers go in search of him, and reach Kuberapuri. At that time, Maniman and his army start fighting with Pandavas. But, Bhima alone handles the fight and kills everyone. At that time, Dharmaputra repents for his younger brother’s iniquity, bowed before Lord Kubera and asked him with politeness, why the power of Gods gave way to the power of man. To which, Lord Kubera replies, “Listen, O son of Kunti. Once, I was invited to attend the chanting of mantras held by the Devas at Kusavati. While on my way to Kusavati, in a chariot, with my attendant Maniman, we came across Sage Agasthya’s cottage, who was doing penance on the banks of River Kalindi. Maniman, spat on Agasthya’s head, which angered the sage. He thus cursed me “Oh Kubera. Your attendant Maniman has insulted me. Therefore, he himself and his army will be killed by a man. You will grieve over their death. But, you will be absolved from this curse, at the sight of the man who killed Maniman and his army.” Thus, it was this curse that brought about the death of Maniman and the army. When I saw Bhima face to face, my curse was revoked.

Once Agasthya started a yajna that was to last 12 years. It was attended by many sages, but once it started, devaloka stopped getting rains. There was no harvest, but Agasthya continued to feed the sages who were attending his yajna. The sages were worried that if the rains were delayed, the yajna would suffer. Agasthya assured them that if Indra didn’t make it rain, he himself would assume Indra’s form and fulfill the duties. Indra was frightened on hearing what Agastyya said, and promptly did the needful.

Dushpanya was the youngest son of the king of Pataliputra. He was known to be extremely cruel and had committed several acts of infanticide. The king threw him out of the kingdom. Dushpanya went into the forests and there, drowned Ugraravas’ child. Ugraravas cursed him and as per the curse, Dushpanya too drowned, and his spirit moved about, suffering many ills. Finally the spirit reached Agastya. As per Sethumahatmya, Agastya asked his disciple Sutheeshna to get water from the agnitheertha in the Gandhamadana mountains and sprinkle it on the spirit. As soon as this was done, Dushpanya’s spirit attained moksha.

Once Agasthya stayed as a guest in the palace of the king Bhadrashwa for a week. He praised the queen Kanthimati a lot. The king wanted to know the reason. Agasthya told him that in her previous birth, the queen was a maid to a rich man. Once, during a Dwadashi during heavy rains, he asked her to ensure that none of the lamps in a temple stopped burning during the night. She managed to do it, and was hence born as a queen in her next birth. According to Vayupurana, the king and queen were happy to hear this and started observing the Dwadashi vrata from then.

It was destined for Dasharatha Chakravarthy (Lord Rama) to remain in exile for a period of 14 years. So he went to the forest with Laxman and Seetha. Seeing the atmosphere of the Maharishi’s ashram, he got attracted and came to that place alongwith Laxman and Seetha. The person who was a Vaishnava, carrying bows and arrows, i.e Rama, alongwith Laxmana and Seetha was welcomed by the sage and treated as a guest. This place is currently called Agasthya-giri or Agasthyapuri in Maharashtra State. He gave discourse (Upadesham) to all the three of them, and also told them that the time was not favorable for them, and that they could face danger in any form during these 14 years. He also noticed that the Bows and arrows which Rama had, were not of much use; and gave him some specialized bows and arrow. He directed them towards Godavari, which was a safe place and asked them to build a hut (Bharnashala), and spend their remaining time there. At that time, a demon called Karan, came to kill Rama. Rama came to know about this attack, and attacked the demon with the bows and arrows that were present with him. But as they were not of much importance, he could not defeat the demon. So he used the arrows given by Agasthya Maharishi, and killed the demon. In the same manner, taking Rama as a medium, Agasthya Maharishi, created many such situations, to kill many Demons. As an instance for this, sage Vishwamitra came to forest to perform a yajnya for the welfare of Lord Rama, Laxmana, and Seetha. At this time, Agasthya Maharishi was preaching at Dandakaaranyam; and a lady called Suthaka, got the blessings from Brahma to have the strength equivalent to 100 Elephants. She married a demon called Sundan. Due to his vakra buddhi, Sundan started giving trouble to Maharishi’s disciples. Angered by this, Maharishi burnt him to ashes. When Suthaka came to know about this, she destroyed Maharishi’s Ashram, with the strength of 100 Elephants that she possessed. She crushed the infants under her feet. Seeing this Maharishi cursed her and her children to turn into demons. After that they were roaming in the forests and causing destruction. They even tried to bring obstacles in Vishwamitra’s yajnya. Seeing this Rama and Laxmana killed these demons. In this manner Rama and Laxmana faced many such situations and fought bravely. At that time, Ravana’s end was nearing. But since Ravana was more powerful than Rama, he found it difficult to defeat Ravana. He was losing his streangth, at which time, he remembered Agasthya Maharishi. Agasthya Maharishi appeared in front of him, and encouraged him to defeat Ravana, and for that purpose told him to recite the “Aditya Hridayam” (prayer of Lord Sun). By reciting this prayer, Rama gathered the strength and ferocity of Sun, and thus was able to defeat Ravana. After defeating Ravana, Rama alongwith Laxmana and Seetha returned to their hometown. When the crowning ceremony was taking place, all the rishis, including Agasthya and me (Narada), were also present. Rama was a little saddened by the fact that after killing so many people, he has to sit on the throne and look after welfare of the people. Seeing his turmoil, Agasthya Maharishi asked him to perform Ashwamedha Yajnya, and thus removed all his fears and filled him with courage and accept his responsibilities and thus made him the King of Ayodhya.

In the same manner, once when Rama was a small boy, Ravana was creating a lot of trouble to people in Bharath and was challenging people to come and fight him, if they had strength and courage. But since nobody had the strength or courage to defeat him, most of the people ran away from their places. In order to curb his arrogance, Agasthya Maharishi made a plan. He made an agreement, in which he put forward a competition of Veena to be organized. It was mentioned in this agreement that if Ravana would win, Agasthya Maharishi will surrender and if Ravana would loose, he will not disturb the people henceforth. Ravana, who was a master of many arts, was very proud about his skill, and doubted about his defeat from a small sage. Ravana gave his performance, which was outstanding. It was then Maharishi’s turn. He prayed to Devi and started playing Veena. His performance was so outstanding, that even the ice melted and poured down as shower. At that time, Ravana realized that Agasthya Maharishi has a lot of power, than can be seen from outside and accepted defeat and went back. He did not trouble people for a long time. But after Rama became matured, by his help Agasthya Maharishi killed Ravana.

Before starting his journey towards South, Agasthya Muni was on piligrimage to Uttarkhand. Here, he started praying to Shivalingam, Surya and Srividya Devi, in a place near Nagakot, which is located in Agasthyamuni Town of Rudraprayag District. Many Kings from the nearby places such as Bhogajeet, Karmajeet and Sheel became devotees of Agasthya Maharishi; and they constructed a Temple for Agasthya. But after many years, the flood came and destroyed the Temple. After that, Agasthya Maharishi appeared in one person’s dream and told him that he has come to a new place nearby to where there was old Temple. As instructed in the dream, an Agasthya Kund was built, at the new place. This is located about half a kilometer away from the earlier Temple. In the flood, Agasthya Maharishi’s idol flowed away. Hence, currently, his disciple, Bhogajeet’s bronze idol has been placed near Agasthya Kund. There was a priest who were performing puja at the Temple. But after the priest died, the puja at the Temple stopped. At that time, two people from South came on a pilgrimage to Uttarakhand. When they came to know about the Agasthya Muni Temple, they had a desire to visit it. But the local people advised them against going inside the Temple. When asked the reason, they replied that the puja has been stopped from many years and whoever went inside, used to die. So the people from South said that Agasthya Maharishi is worshipped as God in South, and hence they would definitely have the Darshan and went inside, performed the puja and returned back without any harm. So the people asked them to stay back and take care of the puja rituals. They agreed and settled on the peak of mountain and started a small town called “Benji”. These two devotees of Agasthya were actually in search of the Shiva Lingam and wanted the Agasthya Temple to be constructed in a grand manner; so that people across the World would know the power of Agasthya Maharishi. But it could not happen and they died, leaving behind the reigns of the Temple to be taken care in the hands of their off-springs. These two people who went to North India, are none other than the present birth Dineshan and Subrahmanium, of Malayala Theeya Community, who are both karma (duty) and vaak (speech) shuddha. They both have got various spiritual experience and are currently in the Lopamudra Sahita Agasthya Sanmarga Sangham Trustee; but no special designation has been assigned to them. Still, they both are working and putting in more efforts that people having designations. When they will ask the details about the Shiva Linga, through the Trustee members, it shall be revealed; as to where is it present and how it should be brought to the current place.

When Eeshwaran explained to Agasthya about the situation, he became disappointed and sad that he won’t be able to witness their marriage. Understanding his sadness, Eeshwaran made Agasthya aware about the power of his Tapas (meditation and prayer) and asked him to bring back the Earth to its normal state. He also blessed Agasthya that he will be able to witness their marriage through any part of the World, whenever he wishes. Assured by the words of the Lord, Agasthya took the Blessings of Girija and Eeshwaran, and started his journey Southwards.

Eeshwaran got impressed by the devotion and worship of Himalaya’s daughter, Girija, and asked for her hand in marriage from Himalaya. Himalaya agreed to this, but put forth a condition that the marriage should take place in Himalaya and that all the Lords and people should take part in it. Eeshwaran agreed to this. As per the Indian tradition, marriage doesn’t take place immediately. There are a lot of rituals and customs to be performed. So all the people and Lords assembled on the Himalaya Mountain and took part in the rituals that were being performed. It was only a few days before the marriage. Due to the large gathering, Himalaya could not take the weight and was sinking down. People got scared that the World would come to an end. At the same time, Narada muni, went to Vindhya Parvatham and started praising Himalaya for its beauty and height. Feeling jealous, Vindhya Parvatham also started raising her peaks. Due to the cunning mind of Narada Muni, he knew that if Vindhya was provoked, she will grow. He thought that if Vindhya would grow, then atleast the unevenness would become even and solve the problem. But instead of solving the problem, it added on to it, Due to the rising peaks of Vindhya, the South part got obstructed from light. Narada Muni couldn’t do anything to stop Vindhya from growing. He got tensed and approached Vishnu and Eeshwaran, who were busy in marriage preparations, and told his misdeed. They became worried and started to search for the right person, who had such a great weight and strength, to correct all these three things at the same time, i.e to stop Vindhya’s growth; to bring back light to Southern region and to stop Himalaya from sinking and bringing back the World at an equal position. At that time, Eeshwaran, recalled that there was no other person than Agasthya, as he had drunk the entire Ocean and had great weight, and also the mountains respected his words. So He summoned for Agasthya Maharishi, who had come to witness The Girija Kalyanam. Agasthya considered Eeshwaran to be his Mentor and hence had come with too much of enthusiasm to witness their marriage

Here, due to Narada’s provocation, Vindhya was growing at a very fast pace. She also became an obstacle for Agasthya’s journey southward, as without crossing her, the rishi couldn’t reach south. When Agasthya approached the Mountain, with due respect to the rishi, she bowed in front of her. Agasthya told her that he has some work in South, on the instructions of Eeshwaran, and if she would grow, it will cause hindrance in the work assigned, as it will be dark in the South. So he ordered her to remain in a bowed position till the time he returned back.

Vindhya Parvatam had heard the rage of the rishi and also knew that if the rishi would give a curse, it will be fruitful. So fearing his anger and curse, she agreed to the rishi’s words and also wished to do Southern part all the good from her side. Agasthya reached Thirukuttraalam. He searched for the right place to bring Earth back to its normal position, and after finding that place in Thirukuttralam, he sat there to do tapas. At the temple of Thirukuttralam, they worshiped Lord Vishnu. The Vaishnavites refused to allow Agastya entry, since he was a Shaivite. Agastya immediately changed his appearance to that of a Vaishnavite and entered the temple. As soon as he entered, the idol changed into that of Shiva, and since then it has remained so. A symbolic meaning of this conversion is to show that Vishnu and Shiva are different aspects of the one and same God. As Agasthya Maharishi, sat at this place to do the tapas, the Earth again came back to its normal position, and even the Vindhya Parvatham remained at the same height. The place where Maharishi sat to do tapas, now, waterfalls are coming from that place. The weight of the Ocean which the Maharishi carried in his stomach, he let it out in a slow form, as a waterfall, from the peak, and that is known as “Agasthya Thirtham”.

At a place called Brahmagiri, there was a common man named Kaavera, who was profound Shiva Devotee. He got a wish that he should serve human beings in extraordinary ways along with nature. In order to recognize his powers, he started meditation by praying to Lord Shiva. In this meditation process, he became a sage. Lord Shiva appreciated his meditation and appeared before him and asked him to tell his wish. He told all his wishes in front of Lord. Lord said that he will not be able to fulfill his wish to serve the people by becoming one with nature and holiness, but that he will have a daughter, who will be able to do so. He revealed that she will have the sacredness equivalent to that of River Ganges, but in Southern Part and it will be possible only when his daughter will marry Brahma’s great grandson (Agasthya). By the blessings of the Lord, Kaavera had a beautiful daughter. He was satisfied that if not by him, then atleast by the birth of his daughter, he will be able to serve the mankind. He named his daughter as “Kaaveri”. He started searching for Agasthya Maharishi. Through his divine powers, he came to know that Agasthya Maharishi is in South India. The Demons were creating a lot of trouble for Sage, Saints, Brahmin in South India. A demon called Surapadmanabhan, had vigorous force and was living here. When Kaavera expressed his wish to go Southwards, people warned him about the disaster taking place there. But without heeding their words, and taking strong determination, Kaavera took his small daughter and started his journey. At the same time, Agasthya Maharishi was constructing a lot of Subrahmanya Temples on many small Mountains. He became aware about Kaavera’s desire and appeared before him. Kaavera told him that he wants his daughter to be married to Agasthya Maharishi and she should earn a good name and fame for her. But due to his busy schedule, Agasthya Maharishi said that he couldn’t marry Kaaveri at this stage. In the next birth, he (Kaavera) will be born as Vidharbha, and she (Kaaveri) will be his daughter. At that time he (Agasthya) will marry her (Kaaveri).