THE CULTURAL LEGACY OF SAGE AGASTYAR: AN ETERNAL UNIFIER

Though India is endowed with a great diversity and heritage, the soul of Indian culture is the same across its geographies, albeit with its manifestations in varied forms.

- RAGHAVENDRA P. TIWARI

Though India is endowed with a great diversity and heritage, the soul of Indian culture is the same across its geographies, albeit with its manifestations in varied forms. It is this spirit of culture which binds together India's different regions to make it a unique cultural state. Therefore, terms like North India and South India are misnomers as these denote the two regions as different countries. Such usages also heighten the artificially perceived north-south divide. Kashi (Varanasi) and Tamil Nadu have been the hubs of ancient culture and learning; we need to explore deeper and appreciate the cultural oneness that has existed for centuries between these two regions. One way to accomplish this may be to explore the life and work of Sage Agastyar, one of the seven Sapt Rishis of ancient India.

Agastyar was a much-revered sage famous for Vedic scholarship. He and his wife, Lopamudra, are the celebrated authors of hymns in the Rigveda and other Vedic literature. He is prominently mentioned in the Vedas, Puranas, Upanishads, Ramayana and Mahabharata. He is known to have made unsurpassable contributions in the fields of literature, medicine, astrology, yoga, arts, science, and agriculture.