Agastya This page contains Indic text . Without rendering support , you may see irregular vowel positioning and a lack of conjuncts . More ... In Hinduism , Agastya ( अगस्त्य in devanagari , pronounced as /ə gəs tyə/ ; also transliterated as Agathiar அகத்தியர் in Tamil , ಅಗಸ್ತ್ಯ in Kannada , Agasthiar , Agastyar and in other ways ) is a legendary Vedic sage or rishi . Some say that it was the sage Agastya who first brought and popularized the Vedic religion to south India . Agastya and his clan are also credited to have `` authored '' many mantras of the Rig Veda , the earliest and most revered Hindu scripture , in the sense of first having the mantras revealed in his mind by the Supreme Spirit Brahman . In some reckonings , Agastya is also said to be one of the greatest Seven Sages or Saptarshis . The word is also written as Agasti . Humbling the Vindhya mountains Legend says that the Vindhya mountains that separate north and south India from each other once showed a tendency to grow so high as to obstruct the usual trajectory of the sun . This was accompanied by increasing vanity on the part of that mountain range , which demanded that Surya , the sun-God , should circum-ambulate the Vindhyas in the same way as he does Mount Meru ( identified by some as being the north pole ) . The need arose to subdue , by guile , the Vindhyas , and Agastya was chosen to do that . Agastya journeyed from north to south , and on the way encountered the now impassible Vindhya mountains . He asked the mountain range to facilitate his passage across to the south . In reverence for so eminent a sage as Agastya , the Vindhya mountains bent low enough to enable the sage and his family to cross over and enter south India . The Vindhya range also promised not to increase in height until Agastya and his family returned to the north . Agastya settled permanently in the south , and the Vindhya range , true to its word , never grew further . Thus , Agastya accomplished by guile something that would have been impossible to accomplish by force . Agastya and the Tamil language Agastya was a great devotee of Lord Shiva . After Agastya reached the south , in answer to his prayer for revelation on the classical language of South India , Lord Shiva himself taught the classical Tamil language to Agastya . Agastya is said to have attended Tamil Sangam ( convention ) and staged his work the Agattiyam or Agastyam , reputedly one of the earliest treatise on Tamil grammar . In the 2500-year old Tamil Sangam , Agastyakoodam has a history of being home to Siddha medicine and it is said to be the home of Agastya. [ citation needed ] It talks about the mountain as `` Potalaka , `` home to deity Avalokiteshvara . Potala in Tibet , the seat of the Dalai Lama is thought to be a replica of this place . Many Buddhists used to visit Agastyakoodam in the olden days . Furthermore , the very Sage Agastya is considered by Buddhists to be a Buddhist Siddha . [ citation needed ] Agastya and Lopāmudrā As with all other Hindus , it was necessary for Agastya to marry and sire a son , in order to fulfill his duties to the Manus . Once he resolved upon doing this , Agastya pursued an unusual course of action : by his yogic powers , he created a female infant who possessed all the special qualities of character and personality that would be appropriate in the wife of a renunciate . At this time , the noble and virtuous king of Vidarbha ( an area in south-central India , just south of the Vindhya mountains ) , was childless and was undergoing penances and prayers for the gift of a child . Agastya arranged for the child he had created to be born the daughter of that noble king of Vidarbha . The child was named `` Lopamudra '' by her parents . Upon her coming of age , Agastya approached the king and sought the hand of his daughter . The king was initially chagrined to hear such a suggestion from a renunciate , but found that his daughter , who had early exhibited extraordinary standards of mind and character , was insistent that he should accept the proposal . She was utterly intent upon exchanging the palace of her father the king for the forest-hermitage of Agastya . Lopamudra and Agastya were duly married and lived a life of extraordinary felicity . 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 held 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 , Ilvala and Vatapi , 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 . By the plan , one changed into a goat and the other disguised himself as a Brahmachari who invited Agastya to a meal . Agastya knew beforehand 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 . Other facets of Agastya He is considered as the first and foremost person of Siddha . He is considered the guru of many other Siddhars . He is also called Kurumuni , meaning short ( kuru ) saint ( muni ) . His contributions were to the field of Medicine ( Siddha ) and Astrology - especially Nadi Jodhidam ( Jos ( i ) yam or Jothisyam ) . He is said to have lived for over 5000 years , and that one of his medicinal preparations , Boopathi Kuligai , is so powerful that it can even bring the dead back to life . Two of his students and disciples were Therayar and Tholkappiar . Unity of Vishnu and Shiva At a Saivite temple named Kutralam , formerly a Vishnu temple , in Tamil Nadu , Agastya , in one legend , was refused entry . He then appeared as a Vaishnavite devotee and is said to have miraculously converted the image to a Shiva linga . A symbolic meaning of this conversion , in one interpretation , is to show that Vishnu and Shiva are different aspects of the one and same God . Certain important Stotrams The Lalitha sahasranama , which describes the 1000 names of the mother Goddess ( Known commonly as Gowri , Parvati or Durga ) , was first revealed to the world when Hayagriva , a manifestation of Vishnu , taught the same to Agastya . Agastya is said to have composed the Aditya Hridayam , a hymn to Surya , and taught the same to Rama just before the war between Rama and Ravana . See also Siddhars Thirumoolar Bogar Kumba Muni Avaiyar Abithana Chintamani - Encyclopedia of Tamil Literature Reference Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend ( ISBN 0-500-51088-1 ) by Anna Dhallapiccola External links Project Madurai Home Page Tamil Siddhars http : //www.agasthiar.org/ http : //www.agnisiksha.org/ Categories : Articles with unsourced statements | Hindu sages | Tamil mythical figures In other languages : Simple English | Français | 日本語 | Português 