Editing Agastya (section)

==Biography==
[[File:AgathiyarLopamudra.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.8|Maharishi Agastya and [[Lopamudra|Lopāmudrā]]]]
Agastya is the named author of several hymns of the ''[[Rigveda]]''. These hymns do not provide his biography.<ref name="Doniger1981p167"/>{{sfn|Jamison|Brereton|2014|pp=1674–1675}} The origins of Agastya - Pulastya, one of the Rig Vedic Saptarishis is his father. His miraculous rebirth follows a [[yajna]] being done by gods [[Varuna]] and [[Mitra]], where the celestial [[apsara]] [[Urvashi]] appears.{{sfn|Buitenen|1981|pp=187–188}} They are overwhelmed by her extraordinary sexuality and ejaculate. Their semen falls into a mud pitcher, which is the womb in which the fetus of Agastya grows. He is born from this jar, along with his twin sage [[Vashistha]] in some mythologies.<ref>{{cite book |author=Hananya Goodman| title=Between Jerusalem and Benares: Comparative Studies in Judaism and Hinduism| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=XF_a3cfrcLQC&pg=PA218 |year=2012| publisher=State University of New York Press |isbn=978-1-4384-0437-0 |pages=218–219}}</ref> This mythology gives him the name ''kumbhayoni'', which literally means "he whose womb was a mud pot".{{sfn|Buitenen|1981|pp=187–188}}{{sfn|Shulman|2014|p=65}}

Agastya is a [[Tamil language|Tamil]] [[Brahmin]] (Maraiyar) who leads an [[asceticism|ascetic]] life, educates himself, becoming a celebrated sage. His unknown origins have led to speculative proposals that the Vedic-era Agastya may have been a migrant whose ideas influenced the south.<ref>K. R. Rajagopalan (1957), "Agastya – his non-Aryan Origin", Tamil Culture, Volume VI, Number 4 (Oct. 1957), pages 286-293</ref><ref name="tamil"/><ref>{{cite book| author=Arvind Sharma |title=Hinduism as a Missionary Religion| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=3J7qJA7L4xwC&pg=PA76| year=2011 | publisher=State University of New York Press| isbn=978-1-4384-3211-3| pages=76–77}}</ref>

According to inconsistent legends in the Puranic and the epics, the ascetic sage Agastya proposed to [[Lopamudra]], a princess born in the kingdom of [[Vidarbha]]. Her parents were unwilling to bless the engagement, concerned that she would be unable to live the austere lifestyle of Agastya in the forest. However, the legends state that Lopamudra accepted him as her husband, saying that Agastya has the wealth of ascetic living, her own youth will fade with seasons, and it is his virtue that makes him the right person. Therewith, Lopamudra becomes the wife of Agastya.<ref>[http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m03/m03097.htm Lopamudra] [[Mahabharata|The Mahabharata]], translated by [[Kisari Mohan Ganguli]] (1883 -1896), Book 3: Vana Parva: Tirtha-yatra Parva: Section XCVII.</ref> In other versions, Lopamudra marries Agastya, but after the wedding, she demands that Agastya provide her with basic comforts before she will consummate the marriage, a demand that ends up forcing Agastya to return to society and earn wealth.<ref name="Dhand2009p110">{{cite book| author=Arti Dhand| title=Woman as Fire, Woman as Sage: Sexual Ideology in the Mahabharata| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kq1JvDXJ5EwC&pg=PA110 |year=2009| publisher=State University of New York Press| isbn=978-0-7914-7140-1| page=110}}</ref>

Agastya and Lopamudra have a son named Drdhasyu, sometimes called Idhmavaha. He is described in the ''Mahabharata'' as a boy who learns the Vedas by listening to his parents while he is in the womb, and is born into the world reciting the hymns.{{sfn|Patton|2014|p=34}}

===Agastya ashram===
Agastya had a hermitage (''[[ashram]]''), but the ancient and medieval era Indian texts provide inconsistent stories and location for this ''ashram''. Two legends place it in Northwest Maharashtra, on the banks of the river [[Godavari]], near [[Nashik]] in small towns named ''Agastyapuri'' and ''Akole''. Other putative sites mentioned in Northern and Eastern Indian sources are near [[Sangli]] in Ainwadi (Agastinagar) (Tal-khanapur)  village (Western ghats at Maharashtra), or near [[Kannauj]] (Uttar Pradesh), or in Agastyamuni village near [[Rudraprayag]] (Uttarakhand), or [[Satpura Range]] (Madhya Pradesh). In Southern sources and the North Indian ''[[Devi-Bhagavata Purana]]'', his ''ashram'' is based in Tamil Nadu, variously placed in [[Tirunelveli]], the [[Pothigai|Pothigai Hills]], or [[Thanjavur]].{{sfn|Dalal|2010|p=294}} Facing east, he penanced upon a rock at [[Kanyakumari]] immediately after the beginning of ''[[Kali Yuga]]''. It is also considered that his final resting place is in [[Agastya Malai|Agastyarkoodam]] in [[Thiruvananthapuram]].