Lopamudra

Lopamudra, also known as Kaveri, Kaushitaki and Varaprada, was a philosopher according to ancient Vedic Indian literature. She was the wife of the sage Agastya who is believed to have lived in the Rigveda period (1950 BC-1100 BC) as many hymns have been attributed as her contribution to this Veda. She was not only the consort of Agastya but a Rishiki in her own right, as she was the well known Rishiki who visualized the "Hadi Panchadasi" mantra of the Srikul Shakta tradition of Hinduism. She was one of the prominent Brahmavadinis. There are three versions of Lopamudra's legend; one is in the Rigveda Hymns; the second is in the epic Mahabharata (Vanaparva: Tirtha-yatra Parva), where there is an elaborate version with a mention that Agastya Rishi did penance at Gangadwara (Haridwar), with the help of his wife, Lopamudra (the princess of Vidarbha). According to this legend, Lopamudra was created by sage Agastya with the most graceful parts of animals such as eyes of the deer etc. The third version is Giridhara Ramayana.

Etymology The name Lopamudra signifies the loss (lopa) that the animals and plants suffered by giving their distinctive beauties (mudras) when Agastya created her. After creating her, Agastya gave Lopamudra to the King of Vidarbha who was doing penance seeking for a progeny. Agastya had created Lopamudra with the intention of marrying her. The king brought up Lopamudra as his daughter. When she grew up, Agastya demanded her hand in marriage. Lopamudra agreed to marry him and left the King's palace for his hermitage. However, after some time, she grew tired of Agastya's austerity. She wrote hymn in the Rigveda, asking for his attention and love. The hymn made Agastya realize his duties towards his wife. The couple had a son named Drdhasyu, who became a poet. M. Bergaigne has commented that the hymn has mystical meaning, with Agastya identified as the heavenly Soma while Lopamudra represents her feminine attraction which fructifies in getting Agastya out of his "secret dwelling place". It is presented more as a dramatic dialogue between husband and wife with the student commenting his appreciation.

The Giridhara Ramayana has a different story of Lopamudra. Agastya approached king of Kanyakubja who had many daughters seeking a girl in marriage. The king promised the sage a girl when they come of age and asked him to come back a few years later. By the time the sage returned, however, the king had married off all his daughters. He was so worried about getting cursed, that he dressed his son' Lopamudra as a girl and presented him to Agastya. Miraculously, Lopamudra was transformed and became a woman after the wedding.

Ilvala welcomed Agastya and the other three kings who accompanied him, within the limits of his city, with due honours. Once in his palace Ilvala served Agastya and his entourage the magic potion of the meat of his brother Vatapi who had taken the form of a buffalo to be served as cooked meat so that the brothers could slay the Brahmins after they consumed the meat. The kings were scared to consume the meat but Agastya told them not to worry as he would consume all the meat served to them and will spare them from eating it.

Laurie L. Patton, an indologist, has observed that "in the case of Lopamudra, both the retention of seed in asceticism and the making of progeny are goals of the rishi Agastya... she is portrayed more and more derivatively, almost anemically, as she helps her husband/creator to promote the abstract ideal of dharma."

In another version of the story narrated by Vasudha Narayanan of the University of Florida, Lopamudra who is fully cognizant of Agastya's imperative necessity for a progeny to redeem the curse of his ancestors and the demon king Illvala's "intentions and machinations", she manipulates the sage which ensures his success.

Other aspects In the Hindu tantra tradition, Sri Vidya mantra devoted to the Devi which has twelve variations, each credited to a devote which included Lopamudra; the other devotees are Manu, Chandra, Kubera, Manmatha, Agastya, Surya, Indra, Skanda, Shiva and Krodhabattaraka (Durvasa). A version popular in South India during about the 6th century AD is called the Lopamudra mantra though now not practiced but it is also associated with traditions in Kashmir.

The river Kaveri in Karnataka is called Lopamudra. The legend behind this is that Agastya had kept Lopamudra, whom he had married for her beauty, confined in his Kamandala or water pot. During one of his sojourns away from his hermitage he stayed away for a long time and lived with another woman with whom he had fallen in love. Noting this, Lopamudra started weeping. Then Ganesha who was passing by heard her cries and released her by overturning the vessel in which she was confined. She flowed out as the river Kaveri.

Another version of Lopamudra being born as Kaveri is that she marries Sage Agastya on the condition that he would not leave her for too long or she would forsake him. One time, the sage was having a lengthy discussion with his disciples and he was prolonged in his absence from his wife. The Goddess angrily admonished her husband and turned away in such fury, that the pleats of her sari rearranged themselves to fall upon her right shoulder instead of her left (hence, why Kodava women have a unique way of wearing sari). As the sage pursued his wife, she jumped into a divine tank at the top of the Brahmagiri hill, being reborn as the Kaveri and disappeared underground before reappearing at Bhagamandala and flowing east towards the ocean. Goddess Kaveri is said to be dear to Shiva, Vishnu, Lakshmi/Bhagavathy and Parvati/Kali. The divine shrines of Ranganatha(Vishnu) and Nimishambika(Parvati/Kali) at Srirangapatna on the banks of the Kaveri are held sacred to the people of Karnataka and Srirangam is considered a Divya Desam of Vishnu and Lakshmi in Tamil Nadu.