The great sage Agastya¹¹

Agastya’s mother was the most beautiful nymph, Urvasi, and his father was the cosmic god, Varuna. Agastya himself was very short, almost a dwarf and his skin was dark. Before he became a great sage, he used to be extremely good in sorcery and witchcraft.

Once a great many sages and seers assembled in the Himalayas. Because of their vast wisdom, they were very heavy. It was not their physical bodies, but their wisdom that was heavy. So many sages had gathered together with their wisdom that the earth began to sink.

Because Agastya’s wisdom was the heaviest, the other sages requested that he leave the Himalayas, which are in the North, and go to the South. Agastya agreed and with his boundless knowledge and wisdom he went to the South.

On the way he took some water from the Ganges to put in the Kaveri River, which is in the South. He also brought with him a few of the seers’ sons and daughters, and also strong young men. He took with him to the South everything he would need to make a good civilisation.

Everybody appreciated Agastya. The sages appreciated him because he listened to their request. The people whom he brought with him to the South appreciated him very much, and the people who were already living in the South also appreciated him. He became truly an object of adoration. Because of his knowledge, because of his wisdom, because of the advice he offered people in every way, he became the sage of sages in the South.

Agastya is very well known in south India. It was he who brought science and literature into that part of India. It was he who introduced Tamil grammar. He was good in astrology, magic, sorcery and many things.