Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c4.89

c4.89

14) Indra's conflict with Agastya. Once Agastya commenced a sacrifice of twelve years' duration. Many hermits participated in this sacrifice. No sooner had the hermit begun the sacrifice, than Indra, (the God of Thunder and Rain) stopped rain in the world. Crops could not be raised. But Agastya provided everybody who took part in the sacrifice, with sumptuous meals. The hermits wondered how Agastya could do this. Some of the hermits feared that the sacrifice would have to be stopped before the stipulated time, if the drought continued. Agastya told them not to fear, and that if Indra refused to send rain, he himself would become Indra and protect the subjects. Indra was horrified, when he heard this and he began to send rain regularly. (Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 92).