A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c9.11

c9.11

The *Mahābhārata* also records the story of Agastya drinking up the waters of the ocean to enable the Devas to dispose of their enemies who had taken refuge under the sea, and of his journey to the South on some unspecified business—when he prevailed upon the Vindhyas to stop growing until he returned, which, however, he never did. In later Tamil tradition, Agastya's southerly march is accounted for by the interesting legend that on the occasion of Śiva's marriage with Pārvatī, Agastya had to be sent to the South to redress the balance of the earth which had been rudely disturbed by the assemblage of all the gods and sages in the North.