Mahabharata - Agastya Drinks Up Ocean

Agastya drinks up the ocean

There were a group of demons who became very powerful under Vritra in the Krita age. They were known as the Kalakeyas. The devas were so tormented by them that they approached Brahma for the destruction of Vritra and the asuras under him. Brahma assured them that he would provide them a means to destroy these demons and told them to take the help of great sage Dadhichi. With the bones of Dadhichi's body, who would sacrifice himself for the cause, a great weapon named Vajra would be prepared with which Vritra can be destroyed. The gods then went to Dadhichi's asylum on the bank of Saraswati and requested him to sacrifice his body for the good of the world after offering their reverence to the rishi who was of celestial splendour owing to the merits of his ascetism. Dadhichi heartily agreed to renounce his body for the welfare of the three worlds. He then made a fire and entered into it keeping his mind and senses firm on the Supreme Being, and thus relinquished his body like an old worn out garment. The gods marvelled at this supreme sacrifice and with profound reverence they gathered the bones of that great rishi. Dadhichi became immortal for his sacrifice and his bones were used by Tvashtri, the celestial artisan, produced that formidable weapon called Vajra and handed it over to Purandara (Indra), the king of gods. Armed with vajra, Indra confronted the Vritra, who was hovering like a tower, accompanied by the mighty Kalakeyas. The battle between the devas and danavas was fierce. They began to gore and kill each other and for a while the danavas won because of their sheer ferocity. Indra was frightened. He never anticipated such terrible fight. He forgot that he had the most formidable weapon, fashioned from the bones of a great sage who sacrificed himself for a cause. On seeing Indra afraid, Vishnu, the Lord of Lords took pity and transfered a portion of his power to Indra. The other devas also transferred their power and with that power Indra gained strength and courage to face Vritra. Vritra was angry and he charged with a loud roar. Indra then hurled vajra with all his might and the powerful weapon pierced through Vritra. Gods then began killing the titans who were demoralized by their leaders death. They fled and took shelter under the ocean. There they began to conspire as to what needed to be done to regroup and gain strength. Atlast they decided that the world and the gods were sustained by Vedas and the ascetic power and that the rishis were the ones who on the basis of their ascetic merits and knowledge of the Vedas sustained the universe. Therefore the rishis should be killed and then all sacrifices would come to end and the devas would lose their power.

The danavas used to stay under the depths of the ocean during the day and at night they used to come out to devour the munis and sages. They attacked the brahmacharis and brahmanas in Vasistha's ashrama, destroyed the sages in the hermitage of Chyavana, killed many sages in Bharadwaja's ashrama and thereby created terror. Horrible scenes of massacre and atrocities perpetrated by these asuras created terror in the minds of people. Vedic rituals and sacrifices came to a standstill and entire universe was terror stricken. The gods became deeply afflicted and together with Indra started to devise means of destroying the danavas. The gods, unable to find any solution, went to Narayana and began to pray earnestly for protection. Thus propitiated, Lord Hari told them that the Kalakeyas, the wicked and evil forces of Vritra, had taken refuge under the ocean which was the abode of Lord Varuna and they were responsible for the carnage. So they must be destroyed. However for that the ocean has to be first dried up. Only sage Agastya, the son of Varuna, has the capability to drink the entire water of the ocean and thereby reveal the hideouts of the daityas.

The gods then along with grandfather Brahma, went to Agastya and entreated him to drink up the ocean. Agastya had earlier chastised the mountain Vindhya which had become very arrogant. He therefore promised the devas that he would definitely work for their good and along with them went to the ocean shore. All the saints and sages accompanied them and so did the yakshas, kinnaras, nagas and all other forms of higher beings. Everybody gazed in amazement as Agastya began drinking the ocean water. In no time he finished drinking that vast mass of water and when the water was over it was found that the ocean was timming with demons. The demons were considerably weakened by the wrath of the sages and brahmans and when gods attacked them, though they fought valiantly for a while, were soon killed. A few of them tore assunder the earth and escaped to the netherlands.

The gods, after having accomplished their tasks requested Agastya to return the water to the ocean. The great sage replied that he had already digested that entire mass of water and the gods would have to think of other means to bring water. The gods then went to Brahma and requested him to bring water to the ocean. Brahma told them that it would take long course of time and it will be under king Bhagiratha that ocean would again be filled up.