Kaoshitakii was the wife of Maharshi Agastya. The Maharshi spent his whole life propagating his sublime ideology and popularizing the broad ideals of humanity. His worthy spouse, Kaoshitakii, assisted him in the task of spreading his noble mission.

Kaoshitakii was a profound scholar with all the grand qualities of a large, tender heart. Sometimes Agastya would pass on his great ideas to her and inspire her to perform noble deeds, and sometimes Kaoshitakii would have excellent new ideas, communicate them to her husband, and inspire him to do good deeds. Thus both of them worked in close cooperation for the promotion of divinity in human life.

You know that geographically India is divided into two parts. The south is called Dákśińápath or Dákśińátya [the Deccan], and the north, Uttarápath or Áryávarta. The central portion of the Deccan was once part of ancient Gondwanaland.⁽¹⁾ Some portions of the southern part of Áryávarta were also part of ancient Gondwanaland. The remaining portion of northern India consists of the Himalayas and the deposits of alluvial soil coming from the Himalayan regions. The mainstream of the south came from the broader synthesized stream of Dravidian culture, which in turn was strongly influenced by Ráŕh civilization. And northern Indian civilization came from the broad Caucasian stream, which was vibrated in every pore by Ráŕh civilization. The lower reaches of northern India were also pre-eminently Ráŕh civilization. What we today call Bengali civilization is a mixture of Ráŕh civilization and the Gangetic and Brahmaputra civilizations. The Bengali civilization in its extended form has been evolving for many centuries together. It became sweet and complex because of its blend of diverse cultural trends.

Let us come back to our topic. Maharshi Agastya had to cross the Vindhyas to the southern part of India to take an active part in a cultural blending. His intention was to bring the south closer to the north. It is related that he said to Kaoshitakii, “Let us both go south,” but his wife replied, “No, it would not be good for us both to go. If we both go to one part then the other part will be neglected. As there is certainly a necessity to go south, I want you to go and exchange ideas with all, irrespective of male or female. Let me remain in the north and establish cultural contact with all.” Hence Kaoshitakii did not accompany her husband in his march south. She preferred to stay back in the north.

You know, the first propounder of music (here, music means instrumental music, vocal music and dance) was Lord Shiva. Maharshi Bharat was his first disciple. This school of music that started with Shiva divided into two schools – north and south. It is a fact that if trees, flowers, fruits and seeds are in the same environment for a long time they will acquire certain environmental specialities. If you plant the same langra variety of mango in Kashi, Baruipur and Malda, you will find a thousand years later that they have developed differences in leaf, colour, taste and smell. This is what is called environmental change. In the same way, the music propagated by Lord Shiva became clearly divided into two distinct schools. The school of music popular in the north was Áryávarta Saḿgiita, or “Hindusthani Sangeet”, whereas its southern counterpart became known as Deccan or Karnatic music.

Similarly, in manners, customs and food habits, certain environmental changes take place, which is but natural in the course of time. In northern India, environmental changes affected the eastern and western portions in a very conspicuous way. The differences became especially prominent in Bengal, where the civilization was a blending of three river-valley civilizations. As a race, the Bengalees are predominantly Austrico-Mongolo-Negroid.

As far as can be known, Maharshi Agastya did not come to Bengal. Had he come to Bengal, the cultural rapport between Bengal and the rest of northern India would have been much closer.

Now let us come to a popular story. It is said that the Vindhya Mountains are very high. It is true that the mountains of ancient Gondwanaland were always snow-covered. With constant rainfall and storms the mountain peaks eroded. There is no doubt that the Vindhyas of yesteryear were extremely high. As the story goes, it was not easy to cross over the high Vindhyas to go south. Maharshi Agastya came to the Vindhyas, and the mountain, in his honour, bent its head low. Agastya wanted to go south to establish the cultural contact between north and south. He spoke to the mountain, “May you have a long life, my child. Keep your head low until I return. When I return from the south, this long prańáma [obeisance] will do for that time also!” Agastya went south and never returned. The Vindhya kept its head low and never again raised it. The cultural synthesis between north and south continued unabated.

Since then if someone sets out [[to]] the south [[for]] some destination and never returns, people say, Agastya yátrá [“an Agastyan journey”].

Today you learned something about Kaoshitakii, the worthy spouse of Maharshi Agastya. Names such as Augustus and Augustine come from the word Agastya. (You have certainly heard of St. Augustine.)

Footnotes

(1) Gondwanaland was an ancient continent, now, due to geophysical changes, no longer intact. –Trans.