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Suta was telling Shaunaka and the sages gathered around him this earliest of all Bhagavati’s stories. Vindhyachala, first among the mountains, stood ringed by deep forests and towering trees; deer, boar, lions, and monkeys roamed it without fear, its rivers and waterfalls kept it forever green, and the gods, gandharvas, kinnaras, and apsaras all added to its splendor. One day the divine sage Narada, wandering the earth in high spirits, came near this same Vindhya. The mountain king rose at once, offered him water for his feet and the welcome-offering, seated him on a fine seat, and asked, divine sage, from where has this happy arrival of yours come?
The Seed Narada Sowed
Narada answered that he had come from Mount Sumeru, where he had seen the worlds of Indra, Agni, Yama, and Varuna. Having said this, the sage drew a long breath. When Vindhya pressed him, he gave his reason: the Himalaya is revered among mountains because he is Shiva’s father-in-law, Kailasa is the honored lord of all because it is Shiva’s dwelling, and there is that Sumeru, forever circled by the thousand-rayed sun along with every planet and star. For this reason Sumeru holds itself the greatest of all mountains and stays drunk on its own pride. Those who possess the power of tapas have no concern with such things, Narada said, and with that he departed for his own world; but in Vindhya’s mind he had planted the seed of envy.
The Sun’s Path Is Blocked
Once the sage had gone, Vindhya found no peace. Day and night he turned over a single thought, how to defeat Sumeru; calm escaped him, and his mind would not hold still. At last a reasoning rose in him that corrupts the judgment of duty: I will block the sun’s very path with my peaks; then how will the sun circle Sumeru at all, and its pride will shatter of its own accord. Fixed on this resolve, Vindhya began to climb, its peaks reaching to touch the sky, until it stood walling off the whole heaven, waiting only for the moment the sun would rise so it could bar the way. At dawn the sun rose over Udayachala, the day-lotus opened and the night-lily began to close, but the instant the sun moved toward the south its path was stopped. Aruna the charioteer said, lord Surya, the overweening Vindhya has blocked your way and risen up into the sky, matching itself against Sumeru. The sun marveled that the one who never halted even for a moment in the arms of Rahu now stood blocked for an age; what the mighty Creator would do next, no one could say. The moment the sun’s motion stopped, all reckoning of time was lost, and the calls of svaha and svadha fell silent; the beings of the west and south lay sleeping in the dark of night, while the beings of the east and north began to scorch in the sun’s fierce heat. Many creatures died, the yajnas and shraddhas came to a halt, the world was left without svadha and svaha, and a cry of anguish broke out across every realm.
The Gods’ Race: From Shiva to Vishnu
Beside themselves, all the gods with Indra put Brahma at their head and took refuge with Lord Shankara, praising him with beautiful hymns. Shiva was pleased, yet he laughed and said that at this hour he did not hold the power to stop Vindhya’s growth; the news should be carried now to Lord Lakshmikanta, who is the cause of all causes. Then, trembling, the gods reached Vaikuntha and, in voices choked with feeling, praised Lord Vishnu as he sat enthroned with Lakshmi. They bowed to that very Lord who, becoming Matsya, rescued the Vedas; who, becoming Kurma, won the nectar; who lifted the earth in the form of Varaha; who, becoming Narasimha, tore Hiranyakashipu apart; who, becoming Vamana, outwitted Bali; who destroyed the wicked as Parashurama and as Rama, son of Dasharatha; who, becoming Krishna, took away the burden of the earth; and who, taking the form of Kalki at the last, will guard his devotees. Pleased, Vishnu gave his word to end their sorrow, and when the gods laid out their calamity he told them the remedy: the supremely radiant Agastya, greatest of sages and worshipper of the world-mother Bhagavati Amba, is at this moment seated in Kashi; only that Agastya can quiet the fire of Mount Vindhya. Go to that same liberation-giving city of Kashi, win the favor of that brilliant best of brahmins, and make your plea.
Agastya and the Bowed Head of Vindhya
In a moment the gods reached Kashi. They bathed with their clothes on at Manikarnika, made offerings of water to the gods and the ancestors, gave their gifts, and came to that most sacred hermitage of Agastya, where even the predatory beasts, gentled by his influence, moved about in peace, and peacocks, swans, and cranes were its adornment. Falling at his feet like staffs laid flat, they praised that great sage, the destroyer of Vatapi’s strength, born from a pitcher, storehouse of all the branches of knowledge, husband of Lopamudra, at whose very rising the waters of the seas turn clear, and they told him of the suffering the Vindhya had brought about. Agastya laughed and said that whatever was too hard even for capable gods like Indra, Agni, and Yama would certainly be accomplished by his power. Having given this word, he told his wife Lopamudra that Vindhya, by blocking the sun’s path, had raised a great disaster; now they must leave Kashi, though obstacles do come even to those who dwell in Kashi. After worshipping Lord Vishwanath, Dandapani, Kalabhairava, and Sakshi-Vinayaka, Agastya, aching at the parting from Kashi, climbed aboard the aerial car that was his own power of tapas and, with his wife, reached the south in half the space of a blink.
Ahead of him Vindhya stood covering the sky. The instant the great mountain saw the sage before it, it shook, let go of all its pride, grew humble as the earth itself, and dropped flat to the ground like a fallen staff in full prostration. Seeing its peak bowed low, Agastya said with a glad face, dear child, stay bent just like this until I come back, for I am not able to climb over this high peak of yours. With these words the sage crossed down the far side of its lowered peaks, and taking darshan of Shrishaila on the way, he settled on Malayachala in the south. The sage stayed on in the south, and to this day Vindhya stands with its head bowed, waiting for him to return. The sun’s path opened again, and blessing came back into the world. That same Bhagavati by whose worship Svayambhuva Manu had gained the rule of the earth for the whole span of his manvantara came now to sit upon the humbled Vindhya, and she became renowned across every realm by the name Vindhyavasini.
This story of Agastya and Vindhya is told in the Devi Mahatmya of the tenth skandha of the Devi Bhagavata as the first of Bhagavati’s deeds; whoever listens to it with devotion gains dharma, wealth, and the ends dear to his own heart.
Source: Shrimad Devi Bhagavata Mahapurana (Gita Press, Gorakhpur)