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This miracle has obtained for him the epithet Yindliya-ku^a ; and he acquired another name, Pitabdhi, or Samudra-chuluka, ' Ocean drinker,' from another fable, according to which he drank up the ocean because it had offended him, and because he wished to help the gods in their wars with the Daityas when the latter had hidden themselves in the waters. He was afterwards made regent of the star Canopus, which bears his name. The Pura^zas represent him as being the son of Pulastya, the sage from whom the Rakshasas sprang. He was one of the narrators of the Brahma Pura?2a and also a writer on medicine. The Maha-bharata relates a legend respecting the creation of his wife. It says that Agastya saw his ancestors suspended by their heels in a pit, and was told by them that they could be rescued only by his begetting a son. Thereupon he formed a girl out of the most graceful parts of different animals and passed her secretly into the palace of the king of Yidarbha. There the child grew up as a daughter of the king, and was demanded in marriage by Agastya. Much against his will the king was constrained to consent, and she became the wife of the sage. She was named Lopa-mudra, because the animals had been subjected to loss {loim) by her engrossing their distinctive beauties, as the eyes of the deer, &c. She was also called Kausitaki and Vara-prada. The same poem also tells a story exhibiting his superhuman power, by which he turned King ISTahusha into a serpent and afterwards restored him to his proper form. See Nahusha. It is in the Ramayavia that Agastya makes the most distin- guished figure. He dwelt in a hermitage on Mount Kunjara, situated in a most beautiful country to the south of the Vindhya mountains, and was chief of the hermits of the soutL He kept the Eakshasas who infested the south under control, so that the country was "only gazed upon and not possessed by them." His power over them is illustrated by a legend which represents him as eating up a Rakshasa named Yatapi who assumed the form of a ram, and as destroying by a flash of his eye the 6 aghAsura—agni. Raksliasa's brother, Ilvala, who attempted to avenge liim. {See, Vatapi.) Rama in his exile wandered to the hermitage of Agastya with 8ita and Lakshma??a. The sage received him with the greatest kindness, and became his friend, adviser, and pro- tector. He gave him tlie bow of Yish/?u ; and when Rama was restored to his kingdom, the sage accompanied him to Ayodhya. The name of Agastya holds a great place also in Tamil litera- ture, and he is " venerated in the south as the first teacher of science and Hterature to the primitive Dravi(/ian tribes;" so says Pr, Caldwell, who thinks " we shall not greatly err in placing the era of Agastya in the seventh, or at least in the sixth cen- tury B.C." AVilson also had previously testified to the same effect: "The traditions of the south of India ascribe to Agastya a principal share in the formation of the Tamil language and literature, and the general tenor of the legends relating to him denotes liis having been instriimental in the introduction of tlie Hindu religion and literature into the Peninsula." AGHASURA. (Agha the Asura.) Aii Asura who was Kansa's general. lie assumed the form of a vast serpent, and Knsh?ia'G companions, the cowherds, entered its mouth, mistaking it for a mountain cavern : but K/-/sh?ta rescued them. AGNAYl. Wife of Agni. She is seldom alluded to in the Yeda and is not of any importance. AGXEYA. Son of Agni, a name of Kfirttikeya or ]\[ars ; also an appellation of the Muni Agastya and others. AGNEYASTRA. 'The weapon of fire.' Given by Bharad- waja to Agnive.sa, the son of Agni, and by him to Dro72a. A similar weapon was, according to the Yish?m PuraTia, given by the sage Aurva to his pupil King Sagara, and with it "he conriuered the tribes of barbarians who had invaded his patri- monial possessions." AGNEYA PURAA^A. See Agni Pura??a. AGNI. (Nom. Agnis= Ignis.) Fire, one of the most ancient and most sacred objects of Hindu worship. He appears in three phases — in heaven as the sun, in mid-air as lightning, on earth as ordinary lire. Agni is one of the chief deities of the Yedas, and gj'cat numbers of tlie hviims are addressed to him, more indfod llinii to any (itluT god. IFe is one of the tlirec greatdeities — Agni, \;\\\\ ((.!• Indiii), niid Sfivya — who respectively preside over eartli, air, and sky, and arc all e(]ual in dignity. "He is AGNI. 7 considered as the mediator between men and gods, as protector of men and their homes, and as witness of their actions ; hence his invocation at all solemn occasions, at the nuptial ceremony, tfec. Fire has ceased to be an object of Avorship, but is held in honour for the part it performs in sacrifices." Agni is repre- sented as having seven tongues, each of which has a distinct name, for licking up the butter used in sacritices. He is guardian of the south-east quarter, being one of the eight loka- palas (q.v.), and his region is called Pura-jyotis. In a celebrated hymn of the i^ig-veda attributed to Yasish/ha, Indra and other gods are called upon to destroy the Kravyads * the flesh-eaters,' or Rakshas enemies of the gods. Agni himself is also a Kravyad, and as such he takes an entirely different character. He is represented under a form as hideous as the beings he is invoked to devour. He sharpens his two iron tusks, puts his enemies into his mouth and swallows them. He heats the edges of his shafts and sends them into the hearts of the Rakshas. "He appears in the progress of mythological personifica- tion as a son of Angiras, as a king of the Pitv/s or Manes, as a Marut, as a gTandson of ASawc^ila, as one of the seven sages or ^/shis, during the reign of Tamasa the fourth Manu," and as a star. In the Maha-bharata Agni is represented as hav- ing exhausted his vigour by devouring too many oblations, and desiring to consume the whole Kha?z^ava forest as a means of recruiting his strength. He was prevented by Indra, but having obtained the assistance of K?7'shwa and Arjuna, he baffled Indra and accomplished his object. In the Vish?iu Purawa he is called Abhimani, and the eldest son of Brahma. His wife was Swaha; by her he had tliree sons, Pavaka, Pavamana, and ^S'uchi, and these had forty-five sons; altogether forty-nine persons, identical with the forty-nine fires, which forty-nine fires the Vayu Pura?^a endeavours to discriminate. He is described in the Hari-vansa as clothed in black, having smoke for liis stan- dard and head-piece, and carrying a flaming javehn. He has four hands, and is borne in a chariot drawn by red horses, and the seven winds are the wheels of his car. He is accompanied by a ram, and sometimes he is rejDresented riding on that animal. The representations of him vary. The names and epithets of Agni are many — Yahni. Anala, Pavaka, Yaii'wanara, son of Yiswanara, the sun ; Abja-liasta, 8 A GNI-DA GDHA S—A HALYA. ' lotus in hand ; ' Dhiinia-ketu, * whose sign is smoke ; ' Hutiusa or Huta-bhuj, * dcvourer of offerings ; ' ^Siichi or /S'ukra, ' the bright;' Eohita^wa, 'having red horses;' Chhaga-ratha, 'ram- rider;' Jatavedas (q.v.); Sapta-jihva, ' seven-tongued ; ' Tomara- dliara, ' javeHn-bearer. ' AGXI-DAGDHAS. Pit?-/s, or Planes, who when alive kept up the household flame and presented oblations with fire. Those who did not do so were called An-agni dagdhas. See Pitris. AGNI PXJRAA^A. Tliis Purawa derives its name from its having been communicated originally by Agni, the deity of fire, to the Muni Vasish/ha, for the purpose of instructing him in the twofold knowledge of Brahma. Its contents are variously specified as " sixteen thousand, fifteen thousand, and fourteen thousand stanzas." This work is devoted to the glorification of /Siva, but its contents are of a very varied and cyclopsedical character. It has portions on ritual and mystic worship, cosmical descriptions, chapters on the duties of kings and the art of war, which have the appearance of being extracted from Bome older work, a chapter on law from the text-book of Yajnawalkya, some chapters on medicine from the Susruta, and some treatises on rhetoric, prosody, and grammar according to the rules of Pingala and Pawini. Its motley contents " exclude it from any legitimate claims to be regarded as a Pura7ia, and prove that its origin cannot be very remote." The text of this Purazia is now in course of publication in the Bihliotheca Indica, edited by Riijendra Lai Mitra. AGNISHWATTAS.