The story of Sage Agastya and Vatapi

 I don't know how many of you know that when we eat a heavy meal and we feel really miserable due to a stomach ache we say "Vatapi Jeernapi", so that the food which we eat gets digested. There is a beautiful story behind this...

Once during Sage Agastya's period there were two demons called Ilvala and Vatapi. These two demons were so jealous of the sages and the Brahmins. So they used to trouble a lot. Though Sage Agastya was a brahmin, he used to do severe penance and thus had the powers to digest even  a stone. Vatapi had the power to take any form and Ilvala knew the Sanjeevini mantra. So Vatapi used to take the form of any food and Ilvala used to call the sages to have the food. When they eat the food, Ilvala used to call "Vatapi! come out." and Lo! Vatapi would tear the stomach of the sage and come out and the sage would be dead. Now, it was the turn of Sage Agastya. They did not know his powers and wanted to kill him.

 As usual, Vatapi was transformed into goat meat and Ilvala invited Sage Agastya to have it. Sage Agastya knew what was going on, but without a hitch ate the meat. But as soon as he ate the meat, he said "Vatapi, Jeeranapi" three times and the food got digested. Ilvala started calling his brother, but where will he come from! He has already been digested. Sage Agastya didn't stop with this. He killed Ilvala also. Thus, he relieved all the Sages and Brahmins from the giants.

Story of our lovely River Kaveri....

You all would be wondering why I haven't written for the past two days. Yes, it's obviously due to the hectic Diwali celebrations that were around...So today to equalize that I would write an extra or two....

I am at my hometown which is in the banks of the flowing river Kaveri. So I thought let me tell you all the story of the river which is considered as one of the holy rivers of India. 

King Kavera ruled the southern parts of India. He was a well a well renowned king and ruled the country very honestly. But he was very sad as he didn't have an heir to the throne. He starts praying to Lord Brahma and Lord Brahma gifts her a girl child. King Kavera names her Kaveri. She grows into a beautiful maiden. She yearns to have a good husband. So she starts doing Tapasya. Sage Agastya who passes her side sees her devotion and falls in love with her and wants to marry her. So he divides her into two parts and puts one part as water in his pitcher or kamandalam and names other part as Lopamudra and marries her. 

Now, Sage Agastya carries Kaveri in his Kamandalam and goes to the barren lands to the south. The devas are actually worried about the barrenness of the south and pleads to Lord Vigneshwara to resolve the issue. Lord Ganesh who knows about Kaveri, disguises himself as a crow, and flies to sage Agastya, who is in deep penance with his kamandalam by his side. The crow flies and sits on the kamandalam and pushes it down. The kaveri inside the kamandalam flows as river Kaveri to take away the barrenness of the south. Lord Ganesh again disguises himself as a small boy and start running. Sage Agastya gets angry and hits on the head of the boy without knowing that he is Lord Ganesh. When he comes to know who it is, he pleads and asks Lord Ganesh to forgive him, and as a pryashchith hits himself three times on his own forehead. This is the reason when we go to pray Lord Ganesh we hit on our head to get rid of any sin that we have committed. It is said that the God who we can please easily is Lord Ganesh, who accepts even a small piece of grass as an offering. It is also said that Sage Agastya married Lopamudra in order to fulfill his promise made to his ancestors who were hanging as ghosts, as Sage Agastya didn't have any children.