Three Kings and a Demon's Feast

Agastya went out to beg for wealth. He went first to King Śrutarvan, who was held to be richer than other kings. When the king heard that the jar-born seer was coming, he went out with his ministers to the edge of his kingdom to meet him and received him with every honour. He brought him water for welcome, and with folded hands he asked why he had come.

Know that I have come for wealth, king, Agastya said. Give me a share of what you can spare without harming others.

The king set before him the full account of his income and his expenses, and said, Take from it whatever wealth you think fit. Agastya looked at the account and saw that what came in and what went out were equal. He, who saw all things evenly, understood that to take anything would harm living beings, and he took nothing. Then he went with Śrutarvan to King Vadhryaśva, and Vadhryaśva received them both at his border and asked why they had come, and the same thing happened again. The income and the expense were equal, and Agastya would not take. Then all three went to Trasadasyu of the line of Ikṣvāku, the son of Purukutsa, who was very rich. He too met them at the border and honoured them and heard their request, and his account too was even, and again Agastya took nothing.

Then the kings looked at one another and said to the seer, There is a demon on the earth named Ilvala, and he is rich. Let us all go to him today and ask him for wealth. That seemed good to them, and they went to Ilvala together.

Ilvala was a Daitya who lived in the city of Maṇimatī with his younger brother Vātāpi. Long before, he had asked a brahmin rich in austerity to give him a son equal to Indra, and the brahmin had not given him such a son. From that day Ilvala was furious with brahmins. He had a power: whomever he called by name, even one gone to the house of death, came back in his body and stood alive before him. So he would turn his brother Vātāpi into a goat, cook him well, and feed him to a brahmin. Then he would call his brother, and Vātāpi would burst out of the brahmin's side, laughing. In this way Ilvala fed brahmin after brahmin and killed them.

Ilvala heard that the kings were coming with the great seer, and he went out with his ministers to his border and honoured them. He fed his guests, and the meat he served was his brother Vātāpi, cooked, in the shape of a ram. The royal sages saw it and lost heart. Agastya said to them, Do not despair. I will eat the great demon. He sat down in the chief seat, and Ilvala served him, smiling to himself, and Agastya ate all of Vātāpi. When he had eaten, Ilvala called to his brother. Nothing came out of Agastya but wind. Then Ilvala saw that the great demon had been digested, and he was dismayed.

He folded his hands, with his ministers around him, and said, Why have you come? Tell me what I can do for you.

Agastya laughed and answered, We know you are a lord of riches, demon. These kings are not very rich, and my need of wealth is great. Give us a share of what you can spare without harming others.

Ilvala bowed and said, If you can tell me what I intend to give, then I will give you wealth.

Agastya said, To each of these kings you mean to give ten thousand cows and as much gold, and to me twice as much, and a chariot of gold with two horses swift as thought. Let the chariot be tested: it is plainly made of gold.

They tested it, and the chariot was gold. The demon, shaken, gave more than had been asked. The two horses yoked to the chariot, Vivāja and Suvāja, carried the wealth and all the kings with Agastya to his hermitage in what seemed the blink of an eye. The kings took leave of Agastya and went home.

Then the seer did everything Lopāmudrā had wished.

You have done all I longed for, she said to him. Now give me a child of great strength.

Agastya said, I am pleased with the way you have lived, my lovely one. Listen to what I have to put before you about the child. Will you have a thousand sons, or a hundred each worth ten, or ten each worth a hundred, or one worth a thousand?

Let me have one son equal to a thousand, said Lopāmudrā. One learned and good son is better than many who are not.

Agastya agreed, and he came to her at the right time, he full of faith, and she, who was like him in nature, sharing his faith. Then he left the child in her womb and went back to the forest. In his absence the child grew in the womb for seven years. When the seventh year had passed he was born, a great poet, blazing with his own power, reciting the Vedas with the sciences that belong to them and with their Upaniṣads. His name was Dṛḍhasyu. While he was still a small boy he carried loads of firewood into his father's house, and so he was called Idhmavāha, the bearer of firewood.

The seer rejoiced to see such a son, and the ancestors who had hung in the pit gained the worlds they had longed for.