Lopamudra

Agastya sees his ancestors hanging upside down in a cave. They tell him that they cannot reach the worlds they seek without descendants, and ask him to have a child. Agastya begins looking for a suitable wife. The account says he gathers qualities from different beings to create a woman, then gives the newborn to King Vidarbha, who wants a child. The king names her Lopamudra and raises her. When she comes of age, men fear to ask for her hand because of the sage.

Agastya eventually asks Vidarbha for Lopamudra as a wife. The king and queen fear the consequences of refusing him, but Lopamudra tells them to give her to Agastya so they will not suffer his anger. After the marriage rites, Agastya asks her to set aside her expensive garments and ornaments. She does so, wearing bark and skins as she shares his vows and austerities at Gangadvara. They live that way for a long time.

One day, Agastya summons Lopamudra after seeing her return from bathing. She asks him to meet her on a bed like the one in her father’s palace and to wear the ornaments she wants. Agastya says he lacks such wealth. Lopamudra replies that his austerities could provide it, while asking him not to damage his religious discipline. Agastya agrees to go and seek wealth.

He first visits King Shrutarvana, then Vadhryashva and Trasadasyu. Each king offers what remains after his income and expenses, but Agastya sees that taking it would burden their people. The kings direct him to the wealthy Ilvala. At Ilvala’s feast, Agastya eats the cooked Vatapi and digests him before he can return to life. He then names the gifts he expects for himself and the kings. Ilvala pays, and Agastya carries the wealth back to his hermitage.

Agastya gives the kings leave and does what Lopamudra had asked. She then asks for a son of great virtue. They conceive Dridhasyu, whose birth follows seven autumns of development. As a child he carries fuel in his father’s house and receives the name Idhmavaha. The narrative returns to Agastya’s hermitage, where Lomasha tells the assembled king that Vatapi was destroyed there.