Agastya’s Twelve-Year Sattra

Janamejaya asked Vaiśampāyana for the supreme teaching that lies under all yajñas (fire rituals). In answer, Vaiśampāyana told of an ancient sattra (a long yajña) of Agastya Maharshi. It lasted twelve years. It was kept only with food gathered by just means, and it was kept strictly without hiṃsā (harm to any being).

The account is in Chapter 92 of the Aśvamedhika Parva. It brings the whole Aśvamedhika Parva to its close.

The sattra

Long ago, Agastya Maharshi, who was devoted to the welfare of all beings, began a sattra-yajña of twelve years.

The hotās (priests who call the devas) gathered for it were mahātmās (great ones) equal to the Tretāgnis. They lived in the following ways:

• Some lived on roots and fruit.
• Some pounded their own grain with stones.
• Some lived on moonbeams alone. These are called marīchipās.
• Some were content with whatever was offered only when they asked. These are called paripṛshṭikas.
• Some lived on what guests left behind. These are called vaighasikas.
• Some kept food only for the day’s own meal and did not store any. These are called prasaṅkhyānas.
• With them were yatis and bhikshus (wandering renunciants).

All of them were firm in dharma. They were free of pretence and trickery, masters of krodha (anger) and of the senses, established in dama (self-control), and wholly free of hiṃsā.

Only food that Agastya himself had gathered by just means, through his own effort, was used in the sattra. (Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 92)

Indra withholds the rain

As the sattra went on, Indra stopped sending rain. He sent none for the full twelve years of the sattra.

The munis present were endowed with ātmajñāna (knowledge of the Self). They saw that Agastya’s yajña-work went on undiminished even though Indra gave no rain. They could not see how the offerings could be kept up without rain. They urged one another to plead on Agastya’s behalf, and they also spoke to Agastya himself with reverence. (Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 92)

Agastya’s vow

Agastya bowed to the munis and spoke. If Indra would not send rain for these twelve years, he said, he would keep the sattra going in other ways.

• He would do it through chintā-yajña, a yajña done purely in the mind. He called this the sanātana vidhi (the eternal rule).
• Or he would do it through sparśa-yajña, a yajña done only by the touch of the ritual, with no use of gathered dravya (materials). This too, he said, is sanātana.
• Or, if need be, he would stay fixed in dhyāna (meditation) alone and complete the rite by will (dhyeyātmanā), drawing the needed dravya by pure contemplation.
• The whole sattra, which spans years, would then become a bīja-yajña, done with seed alone, and no obstacle would arise.

Agastya said that Indra could never make this yajña fruitless, whether he sent rain or not. If Indra still would not give his own consent, Agastya said he would himself become Indra and keep the people alive. Whatever devatā (deva) of food any being was born under, that food would be given in still greater plenty.

Then Agastya made this declaration:

• Let gold and every other wealth of the three worlds come here of its own accord this very day.
• Let the gaṇas (hosts) of apsarasas, the gandharvas, the kinnaras, Viśvāvasu and all others come to attend this yajña.
• Let all the wealth of Uttara Kuru come here by itself.
• Let svarga (heaven) and the dwellers of svarga, and dharma itself, come here freely.

By the sheer power of his tapas (austerity), everything Agastya had declared came to pass exactly as he spoke it. It all appeared through the blazing tejas (radiance) of that supremely luminous muni. The munis were filled with wonder, and they saw the full measure of his tapo-bala (the strength of his tapas). (Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 92)

The ṛshis’ restraint

The ṛshis were delighted by this, but they told Agastya plainly that they did not want his tapas to be spent in this way. They said:

• They were content with the yajñas they had already gained by just means.
• They wished to seek only what comes through nyāya (proper means) in their own karmas (duties and acts).
• They wished to follow the Vedas through brahmacharya (a disciplined life) by just means.
• They wished to carry on their own tapas along the paths set by vidhi (rule).

They praised Agastya for holding so firmly to ahiṃsā (non-harm) through this whole yajña. They said they were pleased above all by that resolve. They asked only that, when the sattra ended, he would release them to go their own ways. (Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 92)

Indra relents

While the ṛshis were speaking, Indra, who is also called Purandara and is of great tejas, saw the full measure of Agastya’s tapo-bala. He relented even before the sattra was complete. Mighty in valour, he sent rain.

Janamejaya is told that Parjanya poured down rain until all were fully satisfied. Indra, with Bṛhaspati leading the way to peace, was thus won over by Agastya.

When the sattra ended, Agastya was filled with joy. He honoured all the munis according to vidhi and sent them on their way. (Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 92)

The close of the parva

This account, together with the ending of the golden mongoose’s śāpa (a curse), told in the same chapter, forms the last teaching of the Aśvamedhika Parva.

Vaiśampāyana closes by telling Janamejaya not to marvel at what happened at Yudhishṭhira’s own yajña. Thousands of ṛshis of old reached svarga through tapas alone. Ahiṃsā toward all beings, contentment, uprightness, tapas, self-mastery and great dāna (giving) are all counted as equal in weight.

With this, the Aśvamedhika Parva is concluded. (Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 92)

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 92