Agastya: Encyclopedia II - Agastya - Legends about Agastya

Agastya - Legends about Agastya

One story about Agastya goes that once the demons had taken refuge in the ocean and it was difficult for the gods to vanquish them, so they went to Sage Agastya for help. Then, after hearing the gods, the sage drank the entire ocean water and withheld it within him until the demons were destroyed.

Agastya is said to have "dedicated" all the forest animals to the deity Rudra (later called as Shiva), hence making them fit for eating if killed while hunting.

Another story has it that two demon brothers decided to kill Agastya. One of them was good at changing form and the other knew the Sanjivani mantra which, when invoked can bring back a dead person to life. They hatched a plan that the one who could change form would turn into a goat and be killed and fed to Agastya. After Agastya had eaten the goat, the other would invoke the Sanjivani mantra to bring back his brother to life, who in turn would rend Agastya's stomach and come out thereby killing him. As per the plan, one changed into a goat and the other disguised himself as a Brahmachari who invited Agastya to a meal. Agastya knew before-hand about the plan due to his immense Vedic powers, but he resolved to teach both a lesson. After the meal, Agastya simply rubbed his stomach saying Jeernam jeernam vathaapi jeernam (meaning "The food that is eaten will be digested well") to digest the meal, while the other demon tried to bring his brother to life in vain. Agastya plainly informed the demon that his brother has been digested. Agastya, realising that his liking for meat had nearly gotten him killed (had it not been for his vedic powers), forbade the consumption of meat for all people.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Legends about Agastya", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki