a baby boy. Agastya is described as pre-
ferring a detached, asceticlifestyle, but
he compromises in deference to his
ancestors. The ancestors appear
to Agastya in a vision, imploring him
to marry and have children, so that
his sonscan continue performing the
ancestral offerings; this is one of the
three debts that every Hindu man
must pay. Agastya consents and
marries Lopamudra.
Agastya’s ascetic lifestyle is said to
have generated immense powers,
which he demonstrates by performing
many marvelous deeds. According to
some accounts, he curses king
Nahushato become a giant serpent, in
retribution for the insults Nahusha has
heaped upon him. Agastya also curses
King Indradyumnato become an ele-
phant, and the gandharva named
Huhuto become a crocodile; the two
are released many years later through
the god Vishnu’sdivine grace.
Not all of his exploits stem from his
readiness to curse—a trait found in
many of the sages—and some are per-
formed for the benefit of human
beings. He is reported to have humbled
the Vindhya Mountains(here personi-
fied), which through envy of Mount
Meruhave grown so tall that the sun
and moonare unable to get around
them. Agastya does this by asking
Vindhya to bow down to let him get
through on his journey to southern
India. Agastya promises that Vindhya
can stand up again when he returns,
which has yet to happen. In other cases
Agastya is reported to have used his
powers to help get rid of demons. On
one occasion, when a group of demons
is hiding in the sea by day and coming
out to pillage at night, Agastya exposes
them by drinking up the ocean and thus
taking away their place of refuge. On
another occasion he foils a demon who
has been taking the form of a goat to be
cooked and eaten by unsuspecting din-
ers. The demon has been killing the din-
ers by exploding out of their stomachs.
Agastya eats the demon as usual, but it is
then completely destroyed by Agastya’s
prodigious digestive powers. See also
Gajendramoksha.Aghori
In one context this term refers to one of
the two loosely organized groups of the
Jogi ascetics, the other being the
Nathpanthis. There are three major
groups of ascetics devoted to the god
Shiva; they are the Aghoris, Nathpanthis,
and Dashanami Sanyasis. The difference
between these is that the Dashanamis are
said to have been founded by the
philosopher Shankaracharya, while the
Aghoris and Nathpanthis are believed to
be descended from earlier Shaivaascetic
orders, particularly the Kapalikas,
Kalamukhas, and Pashupatas. The term
aghori also refers to ascetics whose
reputed practices make them both
respected and feared by the general pop-
ulation. The Aghoris draw their name
from one of the names of the god Shiva,
Aghora, which despite its literal meaning
(“not terrifying”), designates one of the
most frightful and powerful forms of
Shiva. As devotees (bhakta) of this form
of Shiva, the Aghoris are famous for their
disregard of all social conventions and
boundaries. They often eat from a vessel
made of a human skull and are popularly
reputed to eat anything, including dung
and human flesh. Such behavior gener-
ates fascination and sometimes respect
among the larger Hindu populace, but
also considerable fear; Aghoris are so far
outside the normal social boundaries
that most people would rather avoid
interaction with them.Agni
(“fire,” cognate with Latin ignis) Hindu
deitypresent in every fire. Agni is also
one of the eight dikpalas, or Guardians
of the Directions, with responsibility for
the southeast quarter. As fire, Agni is
also one of the five elementsin classical
Hindu cosmology.
Agni is important in the samhitas
(hymns) of the Rg Vedaand in the
Brahmanas, a later strand of Vedic liter-Aghori