Lopāmudrā
Lopāmudrā · lopā-mudrā
Lopāmudrā is the wife of the great ṛshi Agastya, one of the Saptarshis (seven great ṛshis). The Purāṇas praise her as one of the most learned and accomplished women of the Vedic age. The Vāmana Purāṇa names her as the daughter of the king of Vidarbha, whom Agastya left in his golden-arched āśrama in the sky of the south after he had brought down the Vindhya. In the Agni Purāṇa she is invoked with Agastya in his pūjā and honoured with her own arghya as the keeper of the great vrata, a king’s daughter, a muni’s wife and a queen among devīs.
In the Vilāsa Khaṇḍa of the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa she meets Sītā at Kurukshetra during a pilgrimage for a solar eclipse. She hears the whole Rāmāyaṇa from Sītā. Then she asks Sītā a sharp question about why Rāma built the Setu, the bridge to Laṅkā. Sītā’s answer in five parts leaves Lopāmudrā without a reply. The two wives of ṛshis part with warmth and respect.
Who she is
Lopāmudrā is the consort of Agastya, one of the Saptarshis and among the most powerful ṛshis in all the Purāṇas. The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa calls her vidushī (deeply learned). She goes with her husband on his travels and takes full part in the learning and spiritual life of her time. Her learning and piety are so well known that Sītā herself treats her as an equal. Their meeting is a real talk between two accomplished women.
The meeting at Kurukshetra
Rāma, Sītā and the whole royal company of Ayodhyā travelled to Kurukshetra in the Pushpaka vimāna (flying chariot). They went to see a solar eclipse and to bathe at the holy time of the eclipse (puṇyakāla snāna). Many came from the three worlds: devas, gandharvas, kinnaras, dwellers in āśramas (hermitages), kings and their queens.
Rāma bathed and gave mahādāna (great gifts) of elephants, horses, camels and chariots to worthy receivers. Sītā sat among the queens and the wives of munis. Lopāmudrā was one of those who sat beside her.
Seeing Sītā radiant and at ease, Lopāmudrā spoke to her with great affection. She asked her to tell of Rāma’s heroism, from the pāṇi-grahaṇa (marriage) at Mithilā to the present pilgrimage to Kurukshetra. Sītā agreed. She told the whole story with all its details: the svayaṃvara, Daṇḍakāraṇya, the abduction, the search, the Setu, the war in Laṅkā and the return to Ayodhyā. Lopāmudrā listened closely.
The challenge about the Setu
When Sītā finished, Lopāmudrā smiled and put her question. She praised Rāma fully as the greatest of heroes, who had done everything with skill and dharma. Then she said that in one matter Rāma seemed to have worked without need. He had troubled himself and all the vānaras greatly, and that was the Setu.
She asked why Rāma did not ask her husband Agastya to do it. Agastya once drank the whole ocean in a single gulp, and he could do so again. If Rāma had asked him, Agastya would have drunk the ocean dry in one moment. The vānaras could then have walked across the dry sea bed with no trouble. Instead, all those monkeys spent many days piling rocks and mountains into the sea, when one word to Agastya would have solved everything.
The challenge had two sides. It suggested that Rāma had failed in planning or knowledge. It also set Agastya’s power above Rāma’s wisdom. Lopāmudrā’s pride in her husband’s great deeds shows in all her words.
Silence and peace
Sītā answered calmly, firmly and with affection. She gave five reasons for Rāma’s choice. They concerned the protection of the creatures of the ocean, the right understanding of Rāma’s rule, the unsuitability of riding Hanumān, the sanctity of the ocean and, most of all, the impossibility of asking Agastya to drink again what he had once given out from his body. The fifth reason was the strongest. The saltiness of the ocean came from Agastya’s drinking it in anger and later passing it out. To ask Agastya to take in his own old mūtra for Rāma’s sake would have brought apayaśa (disgrace) on Rāma for ever.
Lopāmudrā had no reply. She sat silent for a moment with her head slightly bowed and a trace of embarrassment. Sītā saw this and at once spoke with warmth: “Lopāmudrā Devī, please forgive me. I spoke as I did because you asked, and because the love of speaking of Rāma’s glory carried me away. Do not think I have any wish to lessen the greatness of your husband. Agastya Maharshi is among the greatest of the Saptarshis. I know well his endless power and tapas. I honour your husband deeply.”
Lopāmudrā smiled, accepted this gracefully and embraced Sītā. The meeting ended in warmth and mutual respect.
In the Vivāha Khaṇḍa
Bhagavān Rāma’s royal party halted at Agastya‘s āśrama in Daṇḍakāraṇya on the journey south. There Lopāmudrā was the kind hostess of the great gathering. She used the wonderful pātra (vessel) that Devī Annapūrṇā had given to Agastya. With it she prepared and served a full feast to the thousands of the royal company: the four brothers, their queens, princes, soldiers, ministers and all the attendants. No one in that great crowd went without food. The account shows the full household life of Agastya’s āśrama. Lopāmudrā presided over hospitality, and the tapas of the ṛshi had drawn the grace of Annapūrṇā into their household vessel.
In the Vāmana Purāṇa
Pulastya Maharshi tells Nārada Maharshi why the Vindhya mountain stands low. Long ago the Vindhya grew along the length of the sky and blocked the course of Sūrya. Sūrya went to Agastya and asked him to bring down the mountain’s height, and Agastya, who sends none away disappointed, promised it, left Daṇḍakāraṇya and went to the Vindhya. At his wish the mountain bowed down to let him pass, and Agastya told it to lie so, without growing, until he had bathed in the tīrthas and returned to his own āśrama.
Then Agastya went by the path of the sky to the southern direction and settled there. He set up a lovely āśrama with golden toraṇas (arches), left there his wife Lopāmudrā, the daughter of the king of Vidarbha, and went on to his own āśrama. In every season, at the parva times, the Maharshi stays in that āśrama in the sky; at other times he goes to his āśrama in Daṇḍakāraṇya. And the Vindhya, seeing that divine āśrama in the sky, keeps its peaks bent down, waiting for that radiant one to return.
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 19
In the Agni Purāṇa
Agni Deva tells Vasishṭha Maharshi the pūjā of Agastya, who, he says, is the very form of Bhagavān Vishṇu; one who worships him reaches the presence of Śrī Mahāvishṇu. The pūjā is done when Sūrya is near the Kanyā rāśi. At dusk a mūrti of Agastya made of kāśa flowers is set up on a kalaśa, and Agastya is invoked together with his wife: “O Agastya, best of munis, heap of tejas, of great wisdom! Come together with your wife Lopāmudrā and accept the pūjā I offer.”
At dawn the kalaśa is taken to the water and arghya is given to Agastya. Then arghya is given to Lopāmudrā with these words: “O Lopāmudrā, keeper of the great vrata, daughter of a king, wife of a muni, queen among devīs (deveśvarī), salutation to you. O glorious one (yaśasvinī), accept this arghya.”
Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 206
In the Mahābhārata, Vana Parva
Lomaśa tells of Lopāmudrā in the Vana Parva of the Mahābhārata, chapters 96–98. This account gives her origin and her place in Agastya‘s life.
Her making. Agastya himself made Lopāmudrā. He shaped her from the finest and most beautiful qualities of all creatures. Then he gave her to the king of Vidarbha to raise as his own daughter. She was named Lopāmudrā and grew up in royal comfort. When Agastya came to take her as his wife, she agreed willingly, gave up her royal ornaments and accepted the life of an ascetic. This is in chapter 96.
Her request. After years of life in the forest, Lopāmudrā asked Agastya to honour her with the wealth and dignity that suit a royal woman. She did not ask from vanity. She wanted to be approached as a wife should be approached, and the time had come to bring forth a son for the welfare of the pitṛs (ancestors). Agastya accepted her request without resistance and set out to gain wealth. This is in chapter 96.
Her son Dṛḍhāsyu. Agastya returned with wealth from Ilvala‘s city and fulfilled her wish. After seven years in the womb, Lopāmudrā gave birth to Dṛḍhāsyu, also called Idhmavāha, “carrier of sacred fuel”. He was a son of great power. He continued the line of Agastya and freed the pitṛs from their suffering. This is in chapters 97–98.
Sources
- Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Vilāsa Khaṇḍa, Chapter 9
- Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Vivāha Khaṇḍa, Chapter 5
- Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 96–98
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 19
- Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 206