Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c7.2265

c7.2265

Once Agastya propitiated Śiva at Kailāsa and sought the boon of some water for him to found a sacred place on earth. At the same time Kāverī also was worshipping Śiva. Śiva filled Agastya's bowl with Kāverī water. Agastya, on his way back from Kailāsa cursed the Rākṣasa called Krauñca and kicked the Vindhya mountain down. (See under Agastya). After overcoming various difficulties Agastya at last reached South India. He sat in meditation with the bowl of Kāverī water before him, and then, at the request of Indra, Gaṇapati, in the guise of a crow came and sat on the brink of the bowl and upset it. The water in the bowl flowed as a river, and that river is the present Kāverī. (Asurakāṇḍa, Skanda Purāṇa).