Agastya

This pot-bellied sculpture of Agastya, a Saivite saint, with beard and jatabhara or matted hair is seen holding a kundika or water pot in his left hand. In Hindu tradition, Agastya is one of the sapta rishi or seven Vedic seers and one of the eight disciples of the Hindu god, Shiva. Agastya isalso venerated in south India as the author of Agathiyam, a text on Tamil grammar. In Indonesia, Agastya is held as the harbinger of Indian culture and Hinduism from south India to Java.

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