[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879) › c5.22 # A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.22 A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.22 - **Language:** English ### [c5.22](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.22) Agastya, is derived by a forced etymology from a fable which represents him as having commanded the Vindhya mountains to prostrate themselves before him, through which they lost their primeval altitude; or rather, perhaps, the fable has been invented to account for his name. This miracle has obtained for him the epithet Vindhya-kūṭa; and he acquired another name, Pītābdhi, or Samudra-chuluka, ‘Ocean drinker,’ from another fable, according to which he drank up the ocean because it had offended him, and because he wished to help the gods in their wars with the Daityas when the latter had hidden themselves in the waters. He was afterwards made regent of the star Canopus, which bears his name. The Purāṇas represent him as being the son of Pulastya, the sage from whom the Rākshasas sprang. He was one of the narrators of the Brahma Purāṇa and also a writer on medicine. - [Previous: c5.21](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.21) - [Next: c5.23](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.23) - [Up: c5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5) ## Linked texts (1) - [Brahmapurāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.brahma) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.22](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.22) · Pramāṇa