Agastya and Vishvakarma

[Guest guest]

Agastya's wife LopAmudrA was the princess of Vidarbha(northern part of

the present Maharashtra. So also the first wife of Lord Krishna). Long

ago I read a story---In order to celebrate the wedding of Shankar and

PArvatii, Devas, Daityas, Manushyas, Yakshas, RAkshasas, Gandharvas all

gathered on the Himalayan region and hence the axis of the earth tilted

in the north. Vishvakarma (architect of Devas) in making fun of Agastya

said,"If Agastya goes to the south , the balance will be restored".

Agastya in the fit of Anger curesed VishvakarmA that your descendants

would not be honored as Brahmins. (Now VishvakarmA Brahmins are

traditionally SuvarNakArs). Then VishvakarmA got mad and cursed Agastya

about his language Tamil(I do not remember the exact curse). Then Agastya

started burning with anger. Here Lord VishNu intervened and calmed down

Agastya promising him that his language would be glorified by Vishnu's

devotees(I think Alvars) born in the south India.It is said that there

are four Vedas in Tamil also.It is also said that Agastya came from the

region of Sindha. I get a feeling that Agastya was associated with many

incidents from the north to the south. There are places associated with

his activities in Maharashtra. Thanks. N.R.Joshi.

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[Guest guest]

There are other legends associated with the imbalance of the earth

during Shivji's wedding also. At Achalagarh, close to Udaipur, there

is a temple that has a hole in the ground which per the tradition

extends all the way to the Pataala-loka. It is said that to restore

the balance of the earth, Shivji extended his foot from Mt. Kailash

and the hole marks the imprint.

Later, one of the Pandavas is said to have gone to the Pataala Loka

via that hole.

Another legend associated with the place is that during the reign of

oneof the Mughal emperors (Akbar or Aurangzeb), water was poured in

for 6 months to verify if the hole is really bottomless/extends all

the way to paataala, and the hole did not fill up.

 

Inside the temple are also some icons (identified with Pandavas and

Paanchaali by the priest when I met him) and a few inscriptions in

Braahmi.

The temple is at the base of a hill which has famous Jaina temples at

their summit - which unfortnately I was unable to visit.

 

Agastya Muni's Ashrama is also located traditionally at Talakaveri,

the source of Kaveri (in Karnataka). Sri Rama met Agastya muni

enroute to Lanka and learnt the Adityahrdaya stotra from him. The

Agastya legend has also travelled to S E Asian countries (Thailand,

Indonesia etc.)

 

Vishal

 

INDOLOGY, Narayan R Joshi <giravani@J...> wrote:

> Agastya's wife LopAmudrA was the princess of Vidarbha(northern part

of

> the present Maharashtra. So also the first wife of Lord Krishna).

Long

> ago I read a story---In order to celebrate the wedding of Shankar

and

> PArvatii, Devas, Daityas, Manushyas, Yakshas, RAkshasas,

Gandharvas all

> gathered on the Himalayan region and hence the axis of the earth

tilted

> in the north. Vishvakarma (architect of Devas) in making fun of

Agastya

> said,"If Agastya goes to the south , the balance will be restored".

> Agastya in the fit of Anger curesed VishvakarmA that your

descendants

> would not be honored as Brahmins. (Now VishvakarmA Brahmins are

> traditionally SuvarNakArs). Then VishvakarmA got mad and cursed

Agastya

> about his language Tamil(I do not remember the exact curse). Then

Agastya

> started burning with anger. Here Lord VishNu intervened and calmed

down

> Agastya promising him that his language would be glorified by

Vishnu's

> devotees(I think Alvars) born in the south India.It is said that

there

> are four Vedas in Tamil also.It is also said that Agastya came from

the

> region of Sindha. I get a feeling that Agastya was associated with

many

> incidents from the north to the south. There are places associated

with

> his activities in Maharashtra. Thanks. N.R.Joshi.

> ______________

> GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO!

> Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less!

> Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit:

> http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.

[Guest guest]

INDOLOGY, VAgarwalV@c... wrote:

> There are other legends associated with the imbalance of the earth

> during Shivji's wedding also. At Achalagarh, close to Udaipur, there

> is a temple that has a hole in the ground which per the tradition

> extends all the way to the Pataala-loka. It is said that to restore

> the balance of the earth, Shivji extended his foot from Mt. Kailash

> and the hole marks the imprint.

> Later, one of the Pandavas is said to have gone to the Pataala Loka

> via that hole.

> Another legend associated with the place is that during the reign of

> oneof the Mughal emperors (Akbar or Aurangzeb), water was poured in

> for 6 months to verify if the hole is really bottomless/extends all

> the way to paataala, and the hole did not fill up.

>

 

G. S. Ghurye's book on Indian acculturation: Agastya and Skands

is important. As far as Tamil is considered, see

K. N. Sivaraja Pillai's early 20th century classic,

Agastya in Tamil land (U. Madras, I think). In Tamil,

see the late tuTicaikizAr (a. citamparan2Ar), akattiyar varalaaRu

(he was our family friend).

 

Agastya traditions in Tamil are summarized in many of

Zvelebil's books. Companion studies to Tamil lit., has an

essay.

 

The Potiyil mountain (Potalaka for Buddhists, acc. to

gaNDavyUha & Huan Tsang) has DaxiNamUrti/Avalokita.

In first centuries CE, Buddhists claimed Agastya was taught

Tamil by Avalokita and Shaivaites said it was Shiva who

taught Tamil to Agastya, the Malayamuni. These claims

also created the myths that Panini learnt Sanskrit from

Shiva. Panini was a Northwesterner, but the myths that

Panini learnt Skt. from Shiva was produced in the South -

in parallel with sectarian assertions that Tamil grammar taught

to Agastya by Shiva or Avalokita sitting in the

Malaya-Potiyil-Potalaka mountain. The timeframe is early

Pallava period.

 

 

StalapurANas, like the one narrated by Joshi, Vishal, ...

are present in Tamil shaivaite temples.

Tamil stalapuraaNams, written from 10-11th centuries are not

yet published in full (nowhere near), many are also in

decaying 19th century published books (the paper is like

pappad, if you touch it, it breaks). Conservatively,

I think about 500,000 to 1 million viruthams are in them.

Like Dr. Joshi's suggestion for Sanskrit, the tech word

coinages in Tamil, Dravidian, ... will be immemsely aided

if the Shaivaite puraaNa poems in Tamil see the light of the day.

Also, for a historical dictionary - remember from the beginning until

around 17th century, Tamil was the administrative language.

So, Tamil has most of what is necessary, and coinages of aesthetically

neat words in science and computer tech is proceeding briskly.

The atheistic movement, and tamilatva claims that we did

not have anything to do with Arya/Sanskrit do not help either.

 

Hope all Indians and the World at large spend resources

to print not just Sanskrit texts, but Tamil as well.

Many points in Indology will get clarity when juxtaposed

with Tamil data.

 

Regards,

N. Ganesan

 

> Inside the temple are also some icons (identified with Pandavas and

> Paanchaali by the priest when I met him) and a few inscriptions in

> Braahmi. The temple is at the base of a hill which has famous Jaina

> temples at

> their summit - which unfortnately I was unable to visit.

>

> Agastya Muni's Ashrama is also located traditionally at Talakaveri,

> the source of Kaveri (in Karnataka). Sri Rama met Agastya muni

> enroute to Lanka and learnt the Adityahrdaya stotra from him. The

> Agastya legend has also travelled to S E Asian countries (Thailand,

> Indonesia etc.)

>

> Vishal

>

> INDOLOGY, Narayan R Joshi <giravani@J...> wrote:

> > Agastya's wife LopAmudrA was the princess of Vidarbha(northern

>part of the present Maharashtra. So also the first wife of Lord

>Krishna). Long ago I read a story---In order to celebrate the

>wedding of Shankar and PArvatii, Devas, Daityas, Manushyas, Yakshas,

> RAkshasas, Gandharvas all gathered on the Himalayan region and

> hence the axis of the earth tilted in the north. Vishvakarma

>(architect of Devas) in making fun of Agastya said,"If Agastya goes

>to the south , the balance will be restored". Agastya in the fit of

>Anger curesed VishvakarmA that your descendants would not be honored

>as Brahmins. (Now VishvakarmA Brahmins are traditionally

>SuvarNakArs). Then VishvakarmA got mad and cursed Agastya about his

>language Tamil(I do not remember the exact curse). Then Agastya

> started burning with anger. Here Lord VishNu intervened and calmed

> down Agastya promising him that his language would be glorified by

> Vishnu's devotees(I think Alvars) born in the south India.It is said

>that there are four Vedas in Tamil also.It is also said that Agastya

>came from the region of Sindha. I get a feeling that Agastya was

>associated with many incidents from the north to the south. There

>are places associated with his activities in Maharashtra. Thanks.

>N.R.Joshi.