Rishi Agastya is one of the creators of many ancient scriptures, including Rugved, Varah Puran, and Skand Puran. He also had special expertise in ancient mathematics, science, and the Tamil language.
‘Sapta’ means seven, and ‘Rishi’ means a sage or seer in Sanskrit hence, Saptarishi literally means ‘seven seers’. Saptarishi are the Brahmarishi or scholars who wrote the scientific Indian scriptures such as Ved, Puran, and Upanishad. They created and updated them from time to time. The legends say, Brahma created a series of scholars as ‘Manas Putra’ to impart wisdom and education to human beings.
Agastya is considered to be one of the seven seers of Saptarishi. He is considered to be the son of Pulatsya and the brother of Vashishth. It is estimated that he existed about 6000 years ago. He was a Rajyaguru in the court of King Dasharath. And it is believed that he gave the knowledge of Aditya Hriday Stotra to Shri Ram.
Agastya was the husband of another scholar – and princess of Vidarbh – Lopamudra. They both have given significant contributions in creating ancient scriptures including Rugved, Varah Puran, Skand Puran, and many other scriptures. Agastya is known for his special expertise in ancient mathematics, science and language. He is also known as the pioneer of Tamil language. His legacy has been mentioned in several Tamil, Buddhist, and Southeast Asian scriptures.
Agastya Arghya is a kind of Tarpan pooja that is done on the Poornima of Bhadrapad month. It is also marked by the rise of the Canopus star of the Carina constellation. This year, the Agastya Arghya will be performed on 18 September 2022. It gives amazing life benefits to the people who perform the Arghya Daan.
There are so many fascinating stories of Agastya that establish him as one of the most learned and powerful seers in Indian culture.
In one of the legends – To keep the ego and anger of the Vindhyachl Parvat, conquers the entire Vindhyachal mountain range in today’s Madhya Pradesh in India. He asks Vindhyachal to bow down as he wishes to travel towards the south, and not rise until he comes back. VIndhyachal obeys him and bows down. Agastya crosses the mountain range but never goes back to him. Hence the mountain range remains lower in height compared to the Himalay mountain range.
In another story – Agastya is said to have drunk up the entire ocean at once, to eliminate the demons hiding deep beneath the oceans. And after the task, he filled up the ocean back again. It is believed that this symbolizes Agastya’s reverence across oceans.
There is a lake called Agastya Tirtha lake in Badami, Karnataka. It is a picturesque location and is quite famous for its amazing rock carvings on the walls of the cave temple. It is also a UNESCO heritage site. You can see an amazing bird’s eye view of Badami city from here. Badami was once the capital of the Badami Chalukya Kings.
This lake was constructed in the 5th century. Legends say the Pushkarini Waterbody was built by Garuda, and it was the favorite place of goddess Lakshmi and Goddess Earth.
