Agastya

Agastya (அகத்தியர்)
Agastya depicted in a statue as a Hindu sage
Religion	Hinduism
Founder of	Tamil grammar and language
Known for	Rigvedic hymns, Guru
Spouse	Lopamudra
Children	Drdhasyu
Religious career
Title	Vedic Rishi (sage), Tamil scholar, Siddha

Agastya is a revered Vedic sage of Hinduism. In the Indian traditions, he is a noted recluse and an influential scholar in diverse languages of the Indian subcontinent. He and his wife Lopamudra are the celebrated authors of hymns 1.165 to 1.191 in the Sanskrit text Rigveda and other Vedic literature. Agastya is considered by many to be the "father of the Tamil language", to whom is attributed the origin of the Tamil grammar text Agastyam (Agattiyam).

Agastya is a character in numerous inconsistent mythologies and regional epics including the major Ramayana and Mahabharata. He is one of the seven or eight most revered rishis in the Vedic texts, as well as a subject of reverence and controversies for being the first Tamil Siddhar in the Shaivism tradition, a non-Brahmin Sanskritist, a Dravidian, an Indo-Aryan, a protector of both the Arya and the Dasa, a maverick rishi, and so on. He is also revered in the Puranic literature of Shaktism and Vaishnavism. He is one of the Indian sages found in ancient sculpture and reliefs in Hindu temples of South Asia, and Southeast Asia such as in the early medieval era Shaiva temples on Java Indonesia. He is the principal figure and Guru in the ancient Javanese language text Agastyaparva, whose 11th century version survives.

Agastya is traditionally attributed to be the author of many Sanskrit texts such as the Agastya Gita found in Varaha Purana, Agastya Samhita found embedded in Skanda Purana, and the Dvaidha-Nirnaya Tantra text. He is also referred to as Mana, Kalasaja, Kumbhaja, Kumbhayoni and Maitravaruni after his mythical origins.