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Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c27.s1: Agastyas

Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c27.s1

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Agastyas

c27.s1.1

THERE is no genealogy of the Agastyas, and the Matsya alone (202) gives a list of gotras, which it calls their vaṃśa. ‘Agastya’ appears in various stories at various times from the earliest age down to the Pāṇḍavas’ time,¹ and there is great indefiniteness about the Agastyas.

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¹ e. g. with king Nahuṣa, MBh v, 16, 520-1 : xiii, 99 f. (fable). With Rāma Jāmadagnya, MBh xiii, 84, 3967-9. With Bhīṣma, id. 26, 1761. All fables.

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Fable, which has been noticed in connexion with Vasiṣṭha Maitrāvaruṇa (chapter XVIII), gives ‘Agastya’ an origin with ‘Vasiṣṭha’ in making them both born in a water-jar, sons of the two gods Mitra and Varuṇa, ‘Agastya’ being thus ‘Vasiṣṭha’s’ younger brother.² Hence ‘Agastya’ had the patronymic Maitrāvaruṇi,³ and the names Kumbhayoni,⁴ Kumbhajanman⁵ and other synonyms.⁶ Maitrāvaruṇi really meant ‘son (or descendant) of Mitrāvaruṇa’, but was taken to mean ‘son of Mitra and Varuṇa’⁷ (as explained in chapter XVIII), and so the common patronymic of ‘Vasiṣṭha’ and ‘Agastya’ led to the fable that they were begotten together; and it is noteworthy that no reason is given why ‘Agastya’ was so born, such as is given for ‘Vasiṣṭha’.

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² Also Mat 61, 19: Pad v, 22, 20-1; 33, 121.

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³ MBh iii, 103, 8776: xii, 344, 13216: xiii, 99, 4771: &c. Vedārth on Rigv i, 166. Shortened to Vāruṇi, MBh iii, 103, 8774-5; 105, 8805-7.

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⁴ Mat 61, 50. Pad v, 22, 56. MBh iii, 98, 8595-6: xii, 344, 13216.

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⁵ Raghuv xii, 31.

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⁶ Cf. Bḍ iii, 35, 42, 53.

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⁷ MBh xii, 208, 7595: xiii, 150, 7113; 165, 7666.

c27.s1.10

Kumbhayoni may have been a real name, for queer names were not uncommon, as witness Tṛṇabindu, Śunaḥśepa and many others, and it can be matched with Urjayoni, the name of a son of Viśvāmitra.⁸ If so, it would naturally have led to the allegation that he was born in a jar, just as Vasiṣṭha’s name Kuṇḍina did (*ante*); but it seems more likely to have been coined out of the fable, thus—‘Vasiṣṭha’ and ‘Agastya’ were both Maitrāvaruṇa, interpreted as ‘son of Mitra and Varuṇa’. ‘Vasiṣṭha’ was Kuṇḍina, interpreted to mean ‘connected with a jar’, therefore Agastya must also have been their son born at the same time and in the same way, and so was Kumbha-yoni. This is illustrated by Droṇa, whose name gave rise to a precisely similar explanation,¹ whence he also is styled Kumbhayoni² and Kumbhasambhava.³ Hence the name would seem to have been devised out of the fable, and it may be noted that ‘Vasiṣṭha’ is never called Kumbhayoni, because he had the name Kuṇḍina; and the fable was also utilized to explain Mānya, the patronymic of an Agastya.

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⁸ MBh xiii, 4, 258.

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¹ MBh i, 63, 2434-5; 130, 5102-6; 137, 5433; 166, 6328-32.

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² MBh vii, 157, 6947; 185, 8364, 8367.

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³ MBh vii, 157, 6956; 193, 8823.

c27.s1.15

As noticed above, the stories in which ‘Agastya’ is introduced at various times are generally brahmanic stories, unsupported otherwise, and worthless chronologically. The only Agastya, to whom a genuine historical position is assigned, is the rishi who married Lopāmudrā, and whose place has been fixed above (p. 168). He is sometimes called Kumbhayoni and Maitrāvaruṇa.⁴ Their son was, it is said, Dṛḍhasyu, who was called Idhmavāha also.⁵ Dṛḍhasyu’s name is variously given as Dṛḍhāsya, Dṛḍhāyus and Dṛḍhadyumna; and Idhmavāha as Vidhmavāha and Indrabāhu.⁶ They were however different persons,⁷ because the former is no doubt Dṛḍhacyuta,⁸ the reputed author of Rigveda ix, 25; and Idhmavāha was his son, for as the reputed author of ix, 26 he is called Dārḍhacyuta. ‘Agastya’ and these two are said to have been the most famous Agastis.⁹

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⁴ Mat 61, 50, 53.

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⁵ MBh iii, 99, 8640-2.

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⁶ Mat 145, 114; 202, 8, 11.

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⁷ So treated in Mat loc. cit.; Bd ii, 32, 119-20.

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⁸ He seems to be referred to in Vedārth on Rigv ix, 5.

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⁹ Mat 145, 114-15.

c27.s1.22

The Veda throws very little light on the Agastyas because it mentions them only by their family name Agastya. ‘Agastya’ is said to be the author of hymns i, 165 to 191, but this is only the family name and no doubt includes several Agastyas, for, while to the Agastya who married Lopāmudrā would belong hymn 179, the author of hymn 185 apparently calls himself Sumedhas (verse 10), and the Sumedhases were a gotra among the Agastyas.¹⁰ Āgastyas are alluded to sometimes,¹ but very few are mentioned by name besides those noticed above.² One was Māna, for the author of hymn 189 calls himself Māna’s son; the Mānas are mentioned and the patronymic Mānya occurs.³ Māndārya is probably another patronymic pointing to a Mandāra, and Māna and Mandāra were in the same line of descent because the author of hymns 165 and 166 calls himself Māndārya Mānya,⁴ and it is said that Mānya was Maitrāvaruṇi, son (or descendant) of Mitrāvaruṇa.⁵

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¹⁰ Mat 202, 2.

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¹ MBh iii, 26, 971 : xii, 344, 13216 (Calc. edition). ² One Śarmin, MBh xiii, 68, 3400. ³ Rigv i, 177, 5; 184, 4, 5. ⁴ As Kakṣīvant is styled Dairghatamasa and Auśija (p. 161). ⁵ Anukramaṇī and Vedārth on Rigv viii, 67. ⁶ Rām iii, 11, 78–84; Br 84, 8; 118, 6, 8. Raghuv iv, 44. ⁷ Mat 61, 51 (Laṅkā). ⁸ MBh iii, 130, 10541. ⁹ Br 118, 2; 158, 11: Hv 117, 6591. ‘Conqueror,’ Rām vi, 117, 14. ¹⁰ Mat 61, 37. Pad v, 22, 40. Vā 48, 20–3. Rām iv, 41, 15–16. ¹¹ MBh iii, 104. Br 118, 2–8. ¹² MBh iii, 96, 8543–52; 99, 8615–32; 206: xii, 141, 5389. Rām iii, 11, 55 f. ¹³ Pad v, 19, 160 f.; 22, 40 f. Many in MBh. ¹⁴ MBh iii, 88, 8344. ¹⁵ MBh i, 216, 7839–46; 217, 7877. ¹⁶ MBh iii, 88, 8339: probably 118, 10217. ¹⁷ MBh iii, 87, 8314–17; 96, 8540; 99, 8645–6; 161, 11794: &c. ¹⁸ Vā 108, 53–6; 111, 53.

c27.s1.25

There is nothing to show when or how the Agastyas arose. The fable noticed above connects ‘Agastya’ with ‘Vasiṣṭha’, but that seems merely a fabrication from the fact that a Vasiṣṭha and an Agastya both had the same patronymic Maitrāvaruṇa. Tradition generally connects ‘Agastya’ with the southern region⁶ and even with Ceylon.⁷ Thus ‘Agastya’ met Lopāmudrā at the great tīrtha on the river Sindhu,⁸ that is the Sindh, a southern tributary of the Jumna. ‘Agastya’ is called ‘lord of the southern region’,⁹ and is sometimes said to dwell on Mt. Malaya¹⁰ at the extreme south. Canopus, the brightest star in the southern hemisphere, bears his name. Fables also connect ‘Agastya’ with the south, such as his altering the height of the Vindhya Mts.,¹¹ the story of Ilvala and Vātāpi,¹² and others.¹³ He had a hermitage apparently near Mt. Vaidūrya¹⁴ (the western part of the Satpura range), another called Saubhadra on the southern ocean,¹⁵ and another among the Pāṇḍyas.¹⁶ But the Agastyas spread elsewhere, and so mention is made of ‘Agastya’ in connexion with the Jumna, Prayāga and other places,¹⁷ and Gayā appropriated some of the fame of Agastya and Lopāmudrā.¹⁸

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