Agastya Samhita (IAST: Agastya Saṁhitā; lit. 'Agastya's Compendium') is the title of several works in Sanskrit text attributed to the ancient sage (rishi) Agastya.[note 1]

Pancharatra

One of the samhitas of the Pāñcarātrāgama is the Agastya Saṁhitā, which is about the worshipping of Rāma, Sītā, Lakṣmaṇa, and Hanumān, as laid down by Agastya.[1] It is also known as Agastya-Sutīkṣṇa-Samvāda, as it is in the form of a conversation between the sages Sutīkṣṇa and Agastya.[2]

There are also other works titled Agastya Samhita among the Pancharatra texts, which are different from Sutīkṣṇa-Agastya-samvāda.[3]

Puranas

Sections of certain Puranas believed to have been written by Agastya are called Agastya Samhita as well.

Skanda Purana

A section embedded in Skanda Purana is known as Agastya Samhita, and sometimes called the Sankara Samhita.[4] It was probably composed in late medieval era, but before the 12th-century.[5] It exists in many versions, and is structured as a dialogue between Skanda and Agastya. Scholars such as Moriz Winternitz state that the authenticity of the surviving version of this document is doubtful because Shaiva celebrities such as Skanda and Agastya teach Vaishnavism ideas and the bhakti (devotional worship) of Rama, mixed in with a tourist guide about Shiva temples in Varanasi and other parts of India.[6][7]

Garuda Purana

Agastya Samhita is the name of one of the three sections of Garuda Purana which deals with the study of gems; the other two being the Brihaspati Samhita (Nitisara) and the Dhanvantari Samhita which is a study on material science, jurisprudence and medicine.[web 1]

Claims of invention of electric battery

In the early 20th century, Krishnaji Vinayak Vaze claimed to have found a manuscript of Agastya Samhita in a library in Ujjain, with the help of Damodar Tryambak Joshi, that allegedly described the process of making a dry electric battery.[8] The battery is said to have been used for electroplating, and for producing hydrogen (and oxygen, through electrolysis of water) which was used to fly Vimanas.[web 2][9]

In 1927, Vaman Ramachandra Kokatnur, a chemist and inventor by profession, presented his papers based on this manuscript before the American Chemical Society.[10][11]

Amsu Bodhini Shastra by Pandit Subbaraya Shastry (ascribed to the sage Bharadvaja) mentions a text titled Shakti Tantra, said to have been written by Agastya,[12] which describes 32 kinds of electricity and electronic machines and appliances.[13]

However, no proof has been found that ancient Indians knew about electric batteries and electronic devices.[14]

Notes

  1. ^ For a listing of the various works, and the surviving manuscripts of the work distributed across libraries in India and internationally, see V. Raghavan, New Catalogus Catalogorum (1968--), v.1, pp. 20--22. One of the works under this title belongs to the corpus of Pancharatra texts (see sources below).

References

  1. ^ Rangacharya, M (1911). Descriptive Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts in Madras Vol 11. Government of Madras.
  2. ^ Smith, H. Daniel (1983). Reading the Rāmayāṇa: A Bibliographic Guide for Students and College Teachers : Indian Variants on the Rāma-theme in English Translations. Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University. ISBN 978-0-915984-87-9.
  3. ^ University of Madras (1937). New Catalogus Catalogorum. Osmania University, Digital Library Of India. University Of Madras. pp. 13–14.
  4. ^ Dalal 2010, pp. 7–8.
  5. ^ Sures Chandra Banerji (1989). A Companion to Sanskrit Literature. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 121. ISBN 978-81-208-0063-2.
  6. ^ Moriz Winternitz; V. Srinivasa Sarma (1996). A History of Indian Literature. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 545–546. ISBN 978-81-208-0264-3.
  7. ^ Rocher 1986, pp. 234–237, 228–229.
  8. ^ Soni, Suresh (2009). India's Glorious Scientific Tradition. Prabhat Prakashan. pp. 38–41. ISBN 9788184300284.
  9. ^ Holay, Prashant Prabhakar (2000). Machines in Samskrita Literature. Samskrita Bharati.
  10. ^ "First Non-Stop Flight Made 2000 Years B.C." The Minnesota Alumni Weekly. University of Minnesota Alumni Association. 27 (3): 59. September 30, 1927. hdl:11299/53973.
  11. ^ Mehta, C.N. (1941). The Flight Of Hanuman. pp. 312–313.
  12. ^ Jha, Bhavanath (2009). Agastya Samhita - Sage Agastya. pp. 28–33.
  13. ^ Bharadwaja, Maharshi (1931). Amsu Bodhini Shastra,chapter I. p. VII.
  14. ^ "Outlandish claims diminish respect for ancient Indian science: Narlikar". The Times of India. 2015-01-14. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2024-01-20.

Sources

Printed sources
Web sources
  1. ^ Hindu Encyclopedia, Meaning of "Garuda Purana"
  2. ^ Thatte, Parashuram Hari (1923). Nene, Ashok S. (ed.). "Aircraft in Ancient India". Vedic Magazine and Gurukul Samachar. XXI (7).

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