Give Me to Agastya

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.