Tales froM Indian Mythology

Author(s): A S Raman
Publisher: Kutub Popular

Page 55

Kaveri and Agastya
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to one another and closed their eyes and ears. They were now prepared for the deluge. From the villages below could be faintly heard a babel of frantic cries in which were mingled joy and sorrow, love and hatred, hope and despair. The birds, precariously poised in their flimsy nests, tossed in the gale, while the animals resignedly looked on. Mother Earth, it appeared, shirked her responsibility and was anxious to sink into the seven seas. Suddenly the cloud emitted a blinding flash of lightning and burst into a furious, frenzied downpour. Nothing else seemed real, but only for the moment. For presently a poignant paternal voice was heard from somewhere penetrating the peals of thunder. "Where are you? Is Agastya also with you? I am particularly worried about him. Are you all safe? Why did you not join me during my pilgrimage to the Sahyadri peak? Never mind, it was futile. But I want to take you home. Where can I find you? And where am I to seek my daughter? Do you hear me?”
"Yes, yes Gurudev," answered the brahmacharis. "Here we are on the boulder just in front of the pipal tree where you performed the sacrifice last spring. And where are you? Agastya is not with us. He did not accompany us. Gurudev, come and join us. We shall all search for your daughter and Agastya."
"I am coming," cried the venerable sage who began to walk towards the boulder, somehow feeling his way.
Meanwhile the rain slowed down its tempo and Agastya, holding a beautiful female child in his hands, stumbled upon his fellow-pupils who looked at him with dazed eyes.
"Who is she ?” they asked. "Gurudev's daughter," said