Agastya Drinks the Ocean (Padma Purāṇa)

After Indra killed the asura Vṛtra with the Vajra, Vṛtra’s bodyguards, the Kālakeya asuras, plunged into the ocean to hide. They came out only at night and began to kill ṛshis in their āśramas across the three worlds. The devas, on Vishṇu’s advice, asked the great ṛshi Agastya Maharshi to drink the ocean. He drank it in one draught, and the Kālakeyas were killed. The ocean stayed empty until Bhagīratha brought the Gaṅgā down to fill it, long afterwards. This account is part of the greatness (māhātmya) of Pushkara. It also tells how Agastya earlier made the Vindhya mountain stay low.

Dadhīchi’s bones and the Vajra

The account begins on the bank of the Sarasvatī near Pushkara. Brahmā told all the devas to go to Dadhīchi Maharshi, whose āśrama stood on the far bank of the Sarasvatī. It was a grove full of tigers, elephants and peacocks, loud with the humming of bees, and it shone like a second svarga.

The devas went there and found Dadhīchi Maharshi blazing like Sūrya, like Vishṇu himself. They bowed to him and gave him Brahmā’s request. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Ch. 19)

Dadhīchi Maharshi was full of joy. He did not stop to think even for a moment. He said: “O devas, what have you come for? Ask me for whatever you need. I will give even my own body.”

At once he gave up his body and handed his bones to the devas. Brahmā made the Vajra, the divine weapon, from those bones and gave it to Indra. He said: “With this divine astra (weapon), strike and destroy the mighty Vṛtrāsura. Free the three worlds of their enemy. After that, rule the whole empire of svarga without hindrance.” (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Ch. 19)

The slaying of Vṛtrāsura

Indra took up the Vajra and flew to where Vṛtrāsura stood in the sky. Around him were his Kālakeya bodyguards, asuras as huge as mountains, wearing golden armour. They rushed at the devas like a forest fire that eats trees. The devas could not stand against their fury and fled in all directions.

Vishṇu saw the devas broken. He put his own tejas (radiance) into Indra to make him strong. Filled with Vishṇu’s śakti (power), Indra and the devas gathered themselves again. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Ch. 19)

Vṛtrāsura gave a terrible roar that shook the ten directions, the earth and the sky. For a moment Indra was afraid, but he hurled the Vajra. The great asura was struck. He roared once more and fell to the ground, like Mount Mandara slipping from Vishṇu’s grip, in his golden armour and chains, crashing down with great force.

Still, Indra was gripped by fear even after the blow had landed. He ran toward a lake, not sure that Vṛtra had really fallen. The other devas were glad and praised Indra, and the asuras who were still there were driven off. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Ch. 19)

The Kālakeyas hide in the ocean

The Kālakeya asuras had been Vṛtra’s own army. When they saw Vṛtrāsura killed, they fled in terror and dived into the ocean. They hid in the deep salt water, which is full of timi, timiṅgala and other great sea creatures. There they took counsel: “No one can find us here. Let us destroy the three worlds from here.”

Their plan was this: “First destroy those who have knowledge and tapas. The lokas are held up by tapas, so destroy tapas first. Wherever there are righteous, wise and learned people on earth, destroy them first. When they are gone, the world will fall.” (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Ch. 19)

Terror by night

Every night the Kālakeyas came out of the ocean and attacked the āśramas of the ṛshis.

• From the āśrama of Vasishṭha they ate eight hundred and eighty ṛshis.
• From the āśrama of Cyavana Maharshi they ate a hundred who lived on roots and fruits.
• From the āśrama of Bharadvāja they ate the celibate brahmacārins who lived on air and water alone.

By dawn they were back in the ocean. This went on night after night. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Ch. 19)

The chanting of the Vedas fell silent. The cry of vāshaṭkāra and the calls of the homa (fire offering) were heard no more. Every step of the yajña stopped. The whole world sank into despair. People fled into caves or scattered in every direction, and some simply gave up and died. The few warriors who were left searched for the asuras but could not find them, for the Kālakeyas could not be seen once they were inside the ocean. All creation was in crisis.

The devas go to Vishṇu

The devas, with Indra at their head, gathered and went to Bhagavān Vishṇu, Nārāyaṇa. They praised him: “You are our maker, our protector and our support. By your grace the Varāha avatāra lifted the earth, Narasiṃha killed Hiraṇyakaśipu, and Vāmana held down Bali. Now we do not know who is destroying the brāhmaṇas at night. When the brāhmaṇas grow fewer, the whole earth grows less.” (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Ch. 19)

Vishṇu calmed them and explained: “The Kālakeya asuras saw Vṛtrāsura die at Indra’s hand and dived into the ocean to save themselves. Now from inside the ocean, a dreadful place full of timi and timiṅgala, they come out at night and kill ṛshis. Because they hide in the ocean, they cannot be killed. Find a way to empty the ocean.”

The devas go to Agastya: the Vindhya

The devas went to Vishṇu’s assembly and then to the āśrama of Agastya, called Maitrāvaruṇi, the son of Mitra and Varuṇa. Before they made their request, they first spoke of Agastya’s earlier deed, the holding down of the Vindhya mountain, to show how great his power was. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Ch. 19)

The Vindhya mountain was hurt that Sūrya walked around Meru and not around himself. So the Vindhya began to grow upward to block Sūrya’s path across the sky. The devas and Indra tried to talk him out of it, but the Vindhya would not listen. Only Agastya had the power to stop him.

The devas and Indra came to Agastya’s āśrama and explained what was happening. Agastya went to the Vindhya. He told the mountain that he was travelling south and needed the Vindhya to stay low, and he asked him to stay as he was until he returned. “When I return from the south, you may grow as you wish.” The Vindhya, who held Agastya in reverence, agreed. Agastya went south and never came back. The Vindhya has been waiting for him ever since and cannot grow. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Ch. 19)

Agastya drinks the ocean

Now the devas stood before Agastya. He was shining with divine tejas and was deep in tapas in his āśrama. They bowed to him and spoke his praise: “You were our refuge when Nahusha troubled the three worlds. The world lived because of you. The Vindhya mountain obeyed no one but you. You are always our rescue. Grant us what we ask.”

The devas asked for one thing: “Drink the ocean.”

Agastya heard them, got up and said without delay: “I will drink the ocean now, for the good of the worlds. You go ahead with your task.” (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Ch. 19)

With the whole world watching, Maitrāvaruṇi, Agastya, the son of the water-pot, went in anger to the edge of the ocean. As all the devas looked on in wonder, he drank the whole mahāsāgara (great ocean) in a single draught. The Kālakeyas were now left on the bare ocean floor with nowhere to hide.

Indra and all the devas took up their weapons and cut the Kālakeyas down there. Those in golden armour, wearing kuṇḍalas and bhujākīrttis, fell like kiṃśuka flowers. A few of the Kālakeyas who were left split the earth itself open and fled into Pātāla.

The thirty-three koṭi devas broke into a great hymn of praise for Agastya: “By your grace, O Mahānubhāva, the worlds are at ease! By your tejas the Kālakeyas are destroyed!” (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Ch. 19)

The ocean stays empty

The devas then asked Agastya to give the ocean back. Agastya answered simply: “The water I drank has been digested. I cannot bring it back. Think of another way.”

The devas were dismayed. They went to Brahmā, who said calmly: “Do not be troubled. After a long time the ocean will fill with water again by itself. Bhagīratha Mahārāja, for the sake of his ancestors, will bring the Gaṅgā down from svarga and fill the ocean again. Go now in peace.”

The devas, and the brāhmaṇas who had been freed from terror, went their way. Brahmā turned to Agastya with thanks. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Ch. 19)

Brahmā blesses Agastya’s āśrama

Brahmā was full of joy. He said to Agastya: “By your act the work of the devas is done. The asuras have been destroyed. I am pleased. Ask for any vara you wish.”

Agastya bowed and said: “Let this āśrama of mine be the first among all āśramas. Let it never fail.”

Brahmā agreed: “Those who bathe in the kuṇḍas (sacred pools) here, having made a Pushkara yātrā (pilgrimage), gain the fruit of deva-tarpaṇa and pitṛ-tarpaṇa (water offerings to the devas and to the ancestors) and of every yajña. Any gift, small or great, given here to the best of the brāhmaṇas wins svarga for the giver. A śrāddha (ritual for the ancestors) done here satisfies the ancestors until the final pralaya (dissolution). To feed even one muni here with roots and fruits brings the giver eternal bliss. A bath here equals an aśvamedha. To feed a thousand brāhmaṇas here equals feeding a koṭi of them.” (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Ch. 19)

From that time the place has been known as Agastya-āśrama, one of the sacred places within the tīrtha-kshetra of Pushkara.

Sources

• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 19