River Kaveri

There are several legends about how the river Kaveri came into being. Chapters 11–14 of the Skand Puran (also known as the Kaveri Puran) relate many of them. According to the most well known version, when the great ocean was churned by the Dev and the Asur in order to obtain Amrit , the elixir(Ambrosia), Lord Vishnu turned into Mohini, a non-pareil of infinite charm and appeal, to distract the Asur and restore Amrit to the Dev. Devi Lakshmi also sent along Lopamudre, an Apsara to assist Mohini. After the Amrit was successfully restored to the Dev, Lopamudre was brought up by Brahma as his daughter.

After some time Kaver, a sage of renown, came to Brahmagiri to meditate. Kaver was lonely and prayed to Lord Brahm that he might bless him with a child. Brahm was pleased by his devotion and gave him Lopamudre for a daughter. Lopamudre was renamed Kaveri after the sage.

Kaveri was very keen that her father should have every happiness and prosperity in life and a blessed land full of good and happy people. So she went to the Brahmagiri too and prayed to Lord Brahm that she might turn into a river and flow through the country, pouring her blessings on the people and turning the land green and fertile. She also prayed that her waters might be so holy that all those who took a dip in it might be absolved of all their sins. Brahm granted her both the boons readily and Kaveri was really happy.

But something else was to happen to her first. Sage Agastya happened to see Kaveri when she was deep in meditation on the Brahmagiri. He fell in love with her and asked her to marry him. Although her heart was set on turning into a river of blessings, Kaveri could not refuse Agastya. But she made him promise that if ever he left her alone too long, she would have the right to forsake him and go her way. Agastya promised and kept his word faithfully for some time. But one day he got busy in a theological discussion with his disciples and lost track of time. Kaveri waited patiently for a while but after some hours had passed she jumped into Agastya’s special holy tank and flowed from it like a river. As soon as the disciples of Agastya saw what had happened they tried to stop her from flowing away. But Kaveri promptly went underground and appeared again at Bhagand Kshetr and flowed on toward Valambari and finally into the Bay of Bengal. And it has been worshipped as a sacred river – throughout its course – ever since.