Editing Agastya (section)

===Javanese and Indian texts===
Agastya is one of the most important figures in several medieval-era Southeast Asian inscriptions, temple reliefs and arts. He was particularly popular in Java due to his teaching of

Saiva Siddhanta was easily accepted into the Javanese society. He introduced the Vedic science and the Pallavan Grantha script, but his popularity declined when Islam started to spread throughout the islands of Indonesia. He is also found in Cambodia, Vietnam and other regions. The earliest mentions of Agastya are traceable to about the mid 1st millennium CE, but the 11th-century Javanese language text ''Agastya-parva'' is a remarkable combination of philosophy, mythology and genealogy attributed to sage Agastya.{{sfn|Gonda|1975|pp=12–14}}{{sfn|Monius|2001|pp=113–114, 207–208}}

The ''Agastya-parva'' includes Sanskrit verse (''shlokas'') embedded within the Javanese language. The text is structured as a conversation between a ''Guru'' (teacher, Agastya) and a ''Sisya'' (student, Agastya's son Drdhasyu).{{sfn|Gonda|1975|p=14}} The style is a mixture of didactic, philosophical and theological treatise, covering diverse range of topics much like Hindu Puranas. The chapters of the Javanese text include the Indian theory of cyclic existence, rebirth and [[samsara]], creation of the world by the churning of the ocean (''samudra manthan''), theories of the [[Samkhya]] and the [[Vedanta]] school of [[Hindu philosophy]], major sections on god [[Shiva]] and [[Shaivism]], some discussion of [[Tantra]], a manual-like summary of ceremonies associated with the rites of passage and others.{{sfn|Gonda|1975|p=14}}

While the similarities between the ''Agastya-parva'' text and classical Indian ideas are obvious, according to [[Jan Gonda]], the Indian counterpart of this text in Sanskrit or Tamil languages have not been found in Indonesia or in India.{{sfn|Gonda|1975|p=15}} Similarly other Agastya-related Indonesian texts, dated to be from the 10th to 12th centuries, discuss ideas from multiple sub-schools of Shaivism such as theistic Shaivasiddhanta and monistic Agamic Pashupata, and these texts declare these theologies to be of equal merit and value.{{sfn|Gonda|1975|p=15}}

[[File:Agastya statue in southern niche of Sambisari temple.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Agastya on south side of the 9th-century Javanese [[Sambisari]] temple unearthed from volcanic mud.]]
Agastya is common in medieval-era Shiva temples of Southeast Asia, such as the stone temples in Java ([[Candi of Indonesia|candi]]). Along with the iconography of Shiva, Uma, Nandi and Ganesha who face particular cardinal directions, these temples include a sculpture, image or relief of Agastya carved into the southern face.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Peter Sharrock|author2=Ian C. Glover|author3=Elizabeth A. Bacus|title=Interpreting Southeast Asia's Past: Monument, Image and Text|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HiSUl9aN88MC&pg=PA104|year=2008|publisher=National University of Singapore Press|isbn=978-9971-69-405-0|pages=104–109}}</ref> The Shiva shrine in the largest Hindu temple complex in southeast Asia, [[Prambanan]], features four cellae in its interior. This central shrine within Prambanan group of temples dedicates its southern cella to Agastya.<ref>{{cite book |author=Ooi |first=Keat Gin |author-link=Keat Gin Ooi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QKgraWbb7yoC&pg=PA1101 |title=Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-57607-770-2 |pages=1101–1102}}</ref>

The Dinoyo inscription, dated to 760 CE, is primarily dedicated to Agastya. The inscription states that his older wooden image was remade in stone, thereby suggesting that the reverence for Agastya iconography in southeast Asia was prevalent in an older period.<ref>{{cite book|author=Nicholas Tarling|title=The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia: Volume 1, From Early Times to c. 1800|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rOw8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA313|year=1992|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-35505-6|page=313}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Veronique Degroot|author2=Marijke J. Klokke|title=Materializing Southeast Asia's Past: Selected Papers from the 12th International Conference of the European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r5rGBgAAQBAJ |year=2013|publisher=National University of Singapore Press|isbn=978-9971-69-655-9|pages=116 note 1}}</ref> In [[Cambodia]], the 9th-century king Indravarman, who is remembered for sponsoring the building of a large number of historic temples and related artworks, is declared in the texts of this period to be a descendant of sage Agastya.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jean Ph. Vogel|title=India antiqua|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GckUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA45|year=1947|publisher=Brill Archive|pages=45–46}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Lesya Poerbatjaraka|title=Agastya in den archipel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2LITAQAAIAAJ|year=1926|publisher=Universiteit te Leiden (Republished by BRILL)|pages=1–5 |oclc= 5841432}}</ref>