Lopāmudrā

When Agastya judged that she was ready for the life of a household, he went to the king of Vidarbha. King, he said, my mind is set on marriage, for the sake of a son. I ask you for Lopāmudrā. Give her to me.

The king was stunned. He could not bring himself to refuse, and he did not want to give her either. He went to the queen and said, This great seer is powerful. If he is angry he will burn us with the fire of a curse.

The king and queen sat together in their sorrow, and Lopāmudrā saw them and came to them at the right moment. You must not suffer on my account, father, she said. Give me to Agastya, and save yourself through me.

So it was at his daughter's word that the king gave Lopāmudrā to the great-souled Agastya, with all the proper rites.

As soon as she was his wife, Agastya said to her, Put away these costly clothes and these ornaments. And Lopāmudrā, with her large eyes and lovely limbs, put off her beautiful garments of fine cloth and dressed herself in rags, in bark and in deerskin, and took up the same vows and the same way of life as her husband.

They went to Gaṅgādvāra, where the Gaṅgā comes down out of the mountains, and there the seer practised hard austerities with his wife beside him, in full accord with him. She served him with love and with deep respect, and Agastya came to love his wife dearly.

A long time passed. Then one day Agastya saw Lopāmudrā after her bath, radiant with the power of her austerity. He was pleased with her service, her purity and her self-control, with her grace and her beauty, and he called her to lie with him.

She folded her hands, and a little shyly, but with love, she answered him. A husband takes a wife for the sake of children, she said, there is no doubt of that. But you should honour the love I have for you as well. In my father's palace I had a bed. Come to me on such a bed as that. I want you garlanded and adorned, and I want to come to you as I wish, adorned with heavenly ornaments myself.

Agastya said, Lopāmudrā, I have no riches like your father's.

You are master of everything by your austerity, she said. In a moment you could gather all the wealth there is in the world of the living.

It is as you say, said Agastya. But that would spend my austerity. Show me a way in which my austerity will not be lost.

Lopāmudrā spoke of her season, the time in which she could conceive a child. Little of my season is left, ascetic, she said. I do not want to come to you in any other way. And I do not want to destroy your dharma either. But do this for me, as I wish it.

If this is truly what your mind has settled on, my dear, said Agastya, then I will go. Stay here and do as you please.