Research source

In the Râmâyanam,[767] Agamukhî, or goat's face, is called a witch, who wishes Sîtâ to be torn to pieces

Date of account: English edition published 1872
Source: Zoological Mythology; or, The Legends of Animals, Volume 1 (of 2)
Reference: Zoological Mythology; or, The Legends of Animals, Volume 1 (of 2) · selected passage 143
Rights: public_domain
Language: English
Record updated: 2026-08-25

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In the _Râmâyanam_,[767] Agamukhî, or goat's face, is called a witch, who wishes Sîtâ to be torn to pieces. In the legend of Ilvalas and Vâtâpis,[768] the two wizard brothers who conspire to harm the Brâhmanâs, Vâtâpis transforms himself into a wether, and lets himself be sacrificed in the funeral rites by the Brâhmanâs. The unsuspecting Brâhmanâs eat its flesh; then Ilvalas cries out to his brother, "Come forth, O Vâtâpis!" and his brother, Vâtâpis, comes out of the bodies of the Brâhmanâs, lacerating them, until the rishis Agastyas eats of himself the whole of Vâtâpis, and burns Ilvalas to ashes. The _Râmâyanam_ itself explains to us why, in these sacrifices, a wether, and not a ram, is spoken of,[769] when it narrates the legend of Ahalyâ. It is said in this passage that the god Indras was one day condemned to lose his testicles by the malediction of the rishis Gâutamas, with whose wife, Ahalyâ, he had committed adultery. The gods, moved to pity, took the testicles of a ram and gave them to Indras, who was therefore called Meshândas; on this account, says the _Râmâyanam_, the Pitaras feed on wethers, and not on rams, in funeral oblations. This legend is evidently of brâhmanic origin.

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