Shiva Hears Ram Katha at Agastya's Hermitage
Bala Kanda, Chaupai 48
Sortha 48 · Movement 1 of 2
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In Treta Yuga, Shiva travels to the hermitage of Agastya, the sage born from a pot. Sati accompanies him, mother of the world and daughter of Daksha. The forest sage receives them with worship, recognizing in the ash clad visitor the Lord of all.
Agastya begins to narrate Ram Katha. Shiva listens with supreme happiness, absorbed not as a distant sovereign accepting praise but as a devotee drinking the Beloved's story. When Agastya asks about beautiful devotion to Hari, Shiva sees his fitness and replies. Teller and listener exchange places, and for several days the hermitage resounds with Raghupati's virtues.
At last Shiva and Sati take leave and begin the journey home. At that very time, Hari has descended secretly into the Raghu line to relieve the burden of the earth. Obedient to his father's word, the imperishable Lord has abandoned the throne and now moves through Dandaka dressed as a forest exile.
As Shiva leaves the hermitage, the Lord whose story he heard is walking the forest in human form.
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AI-created devotional illustration · Chaupai 48
Shiva and Sati listen to sage Agastya recount Rama's story beneath flowering trees.
Source reference and artistic choices
Gita Press code81 undated · PDF pages 71, 72 · printed pages 69, 70. Reader passage: bala-kanda-chaupai-048. Printed numbering may differ.
Source facts
- In Treta Shiva visits Kumbhaja/Agastya accompanied by Sati, daughter of Daksha
- Agastya honours Shiva and narrates Rama's story at length; Shiva listens with delight and expounds devotion when requested
- The group subsequently introduces Rama's concealed earthly incarnation; that later episode is not selected
Artistic choices
- Select shared Rama-story listening at Agastya's hermitage
- All three appearances, mats and poses, cream/ochre and pink drapes, jewellery, floral grove, river, hut and distant buildings imagined
- Shiva and Sati conventional appearance follows prior approved art; female is Sati here, no claim she is Parvati
An imaginative interpretation, not a historical portrait or documentary evidence.
एक बार त्रेता जुग माहीं। संभु गए कुंभज रिषि पाहीं।। संग सती जगजननि भवानी। पूजे रिषि अखिलेस्वर जानी।। रामकथा मुनीबर्ज बखानी। सुनी महेस परम सुखु मानी।। रिषि पूछी हरिभगति सुहाई। कही संभु अधिकारी पाई।। कहत सुनत रघुपति गुन गाथा। कछु दिन तहाँ रहे गिरिनाथा।। मुनि सन बिदा मागि त्रिपुरारी। चले भवन सँग दच्छकुमारी।। तेहि अवसर भंजन महिभारा। हरि रघुबंस लीन्ह अवतारा।। पिता बचन तजि राजु उदासी। दंडक बन बिचरत अबिनासी।।
Once, in the Treta Yuga, Shambhu went to visit the sage Agastya, the pot-born rishi. Sati, the mother of the world, Bhavani herself, was with him. The rishi worshipped Shiva, knowing him to be the Lord of all.