Cohobation
In pre-modern chemistry and alchemy, cohobation was the process of repeated distillation of the same matter, with the liquid drawn from it. Cohobation is a kind of circulation, only differing from it in this, that the liquid is drawn off in cohobation, as in common distillation, thrown back again. Cohobation has no corresponding process in modern chemistry. Indeed, it is equivalent to performing the same distillation a number of times and does not increase the purity of the distillate or alter the residue any more than would be done by maintaining it at elevated temperature for the same period of time; the Dean-Stark trap does involve returning some distillate to the reaction flask: a solution is distilled and the condensed liquid is collected in a tube wherein water settles to the bottom and is drained out, while an organic solvent returns to the boiling solution. However, the process is not manual, most of the solvent does not leave the reaction flask, the apparatus achieves a useful purpose.
Circulation, on the other hand, is the same as reflux, where a solution is maintained at its boiling point by condensing the distilling vapors and returning them directly to the reaction mixture
Distillation
Distillation is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation. Distillation may result in complete separation, or it may be a partial separation that increases the concentration of selected components in the mixture. In either case, the process exploits differences in the volatility of the mixture's components. In industrial chemistry, distillation is a unit operation of universal importance, but it is a physical separation process, not a chemical reaction. Distillation has many applications. For example: Distillation of fermented products produces distilled beverages with a high alcohol content or separates out other fermentation products of commercial value. Distillation is an traditional method of desalination. In the fossil fuel industry, oil stabilization is a form of partial distillation that reduces vapor pressure of crude oil, thereby making it safe for storage and transport as well as reducing the atmospheric emissions of volatile hydrocarbons.
In midstream operations at oil refineries, distillation is a major class of operation for transforming crude oil into fuels and chemical feed stocks. Cryogenic distillation leads to the separation of air into its components – notably oxygen and argon – for industrial use. In the field of industrial chemistry, large amounts of crude liquid products of chemical synthesis are distilled to separate them, either from other products, from impurities, or from unreacted starting materials. An installation used for distillation of distilled beverages, is called a distillery; the distillation equipment at a distillery is a still. In 1975 Paolo Rovesti a chemist and pharmacist who became known as"father of Phytocosmetics" discovered a terracota distillation apparatus in the Indus valley in West Pakistan which dates from around 3000 BC. Early evidence of distillation was found on Akkadian tablets dated circa 1200 BC describing perfumery operations; the tablets provided textual evidence that an early primitive form of distillation was known to the Babylonians of ancient Mesopotamia.
Early evidence of distillation was found related to alchemists working in Alexandria in Roman Egypt in the 1st century. Distilled water has been in use since at least c. 200, when Alexander of Aphrodisias described the process. Work on distilling other liquids continued in early Byzantine Egypt under Zosimus of Panopolis in the 3rd century. Distillation was practiced in the ancient Indian subcontinent, evident from baked clay retorts and receivers found at Taxila and Charsadda in modern Pakistan, dating back to the early centuries of the Common Era; these "Gandhara stills" were only capable of producing weak liquor, as there was no efficient means of collecting the vapors at low heat. Distillation in China may have begun during the Eastern Han dynasty, but the distillation of beverages began in the Jin and Southern Song dynasties, according to archaeological evidence. Clear evidence of the distillation of alcohol comes from the Arab chemist Al-Kindi in 9th-century Iraq; the process spread to Italy, where it was described by the School of Salerno in the 12th century.
Fractional distillation was developed by Tadeo Alderotti in the 13th century. A still was found in an archaeological site in Qinglong, Hebei province, in China, dating back to the 12th century. Distilled beverages were common during the Yuan dynasty. In 1500, German alchemist Hieronymus Braunschweig published Liber de arte destillandi, the first book dedicated to the subject of distillation, followed in 1512 by a much expanded version. In 1651, John French published The Art of Distillation, the first major English compendium on the practice, but it has been claimed that much of it derives from Braunschweig's work; this includes diagrams with people in them showing the industrial rather than bench scale of the operation. As alchemy evolved into the science of chemistry, vessels called retorts became used for distillations. Both alembics and retorts are forms of glassware with long necks pointing to the side at a downward angle to act as air-cooled condensers to condense the distillate and let it drip downward for collection.
Copper alembics were invented. Riveted joints were kept tight by using various mixtures, for instance a dough made of rye flour; these alembics featured a cooling system around the beak, using cold water, for instance, which made the condensation of alcohol more efficient. These were called pot stills. Today, the retorts and pot stills have been supplanted by more efficient distillation methods in most industrial processes. However, the pot still is still used for the elaboration of some fine alcohols, such as cognac, Scotch whisky, Irish whiskey and some vodkas. Pot stills made of various materials are used by bootleggers in various countries. Small pot stills are sold for use in the domestic production of flower water or essential oils. Early forms of distillation involved batch processes using one condensation. Purity was improved by further distillation of the condensate. Greater volumes were processed by repeating the distillation. Chemists carried out as many as 500 to 600 distillations in order to obtain a pure compound.
In the early 19th century, the basics of modern techniques, including pre-heating and reflux, were developed. In 1822, Anthony Perrier developed one of the first continuous stills, in 1826, Robert Stein improved that design to make his patent still. In 1830, Aeneas Coffey got a patent for improving the design f
Sublimation (phase transition)
Sublimation is the transition of a substance directly from the solid to the gas phase, without passing through the intermediate liquid phase. Sublimation is an endothermic process that occurs at temperatures and pressures below a substance's triple point in its phase diagram, which corresponds to the lowest pressure at which the substance can exist as a liquid; the reverse process of sublimation is deposition or desublimation, in which a substance passes directly from a gas to a solid phase. Sublimation has been used as a generic term to describe a solid-to-gas transition followed by a gas-to-solid transition. While a transition from liquid to gas is described as evaporation if it occurs below the boiling point of the liquid, as boiling if it occurs at the boiling point, there is no such distinction within the solid-to-gas transition, always described as sublimation. At normal pressures, most chemical compounds and elements possess three different states at different temperatures. In these cases, the transition from the solid to the gaseous state requires an intermediate liquid state.
The pressure referred to is the partial pressure of the substance, not the total pressure of the entire system. So, all solids that possess an appreciable vapour pressure at a certain temperature can sublime in air. For some substances, such as carbon and arsenic, sublimation is much easier than evaporation from the melt, because the pressure of their triple point is high, it is difficult to obtain them as liquids; the term sublimation refers to a physical change of state and is not used to describe the transformation of a solid to a gas in a chemical reaction. For example, the dissociation on heating of solid ammonium chloride into hydrogen chloride and ammonia is not sublimation but a chemical reaction; the combustion of candles, containing paraffin wax, to carbon dioxide and water vapor is not sublimation but a chemical reaction with oxygen. Sublimation is caused by the absorption of heat which provides enough energy for some molecules to overcome the attractive forces of their neighbors and escape into the vapor phase.
Since the process requires additional energy, it is an endothermic change. The enthalpy of sublimation can be calculated by adding the enthalpy of fusion and the enthalpy of vaporization. Solid carbon dioxide sublimes everywhere along the line below the triple point (e.g. at the temperature of −78.5 °C at atmospheric pressure, whereas its melting into liquid CO2 can occur only along the line at pressures and temperatures above the triple point. Snow and ice sublime, although more at temperatures below the freezing/melting point temperature line at 0 °C for most pressures. In freeze-drying, the material to be dehydrated is frozen and its water is allowed to sublime under reduced pressure or vacuum; the loss of snow from a snowfield during a cold spell is caused by sunshine acting directly on the upper layers of the snow. Ablation is a process that includes erosive wear of glacier ice. Naphthalene, an organic compound found in pesticides such as mothballs, sublimes because it is made of non-polar molecules that are held together only by van der Waals intermolecular forces.
Naphthalene is a solid that sublimes at standard atmospheric temperature with the sublimation point at around 80 °C or 176 °F. At low temperature, its vapour pressure is high enough, 1 mmHg at 53 °C, to make the solid form of naphthalene evaporate into gas. On cool surfaces, the naphthalene vapours will solidify to form needle-like crystals. Iodine produces fumes on gentle heating, it is possible to obtain liquid iodine at atmospheric pressure by controlling the temperature at just above the melting point of iodine. In forensic science, iodine vapor can reveal latent fingerprints on paper. Arsenic can sublime at high temperatures. Cadmium and zinc are not suitable materials for use in vacuum because they sublimate much more than other common materials. Sublimation is a technique used by chemists to purify compounds. A solid is placed in a sublimation apparatus and heated under vacuum. Under this reduced pressure, the solid volatilizes and condenses as a purified compound on a cooled surface, leaving a non-volatile residue of impurities behind.
Once heating ceases and the vacuum is removed, the purified compound may be collected from the cooling surface. For higher purification efficiencies, a temperature gradient is applied, which allows for the separation of different fractions. Typical setups use an evacuated glass tube, heated in a controlled manner; the material flow is from the hot end, where the initial material is placed, to the cold end, connected to a pump stand. By controlling temperatures along the length of the tube, the operator can control the zones of re-condensation, with volatile compounds being pumped out of the system moderately volatile compounds re-condensing along the tube according to their different volatilities, non-volatile compounds remaining in the hot end. Vacuum sublimation of this type is the method of choice for purification of organic compounds for use in the organic electronics industry, where high purities are needed to satisfy the standards for consumer electronics and other applications. In ancient alchemy, a protoscience that contributed to the development of modern chemistry and medicine, alchemists developed a structure of basic laboratory techniques, theory and experimental methods.
Sublimation was used to refer to the process in which a
Ouroboros
The Ouroboros or uroborus is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon eating its own tail. Originating in ancient Egyptian iconography, the ouroboros entered western tradition via Greek magical tradition and was adopted as a symbol in Gnosticism and Hermeticism and most notably in alchemy; the term derives from Ancient Greek: οὐροβόρος, from οὐρά, "tail" + βορά, "food", from βιβρώσκω, "I eat". The first known appearance of the ouroboros motif is in the Enigmatic Book of the Netherworld, an ancient Egyptian funerary text in KV62, the tomb of Tutankhamun, in the 14th century BC; the text concerns his union with Osiris in the underworld. The ouroboros is depicted twice on the figure: holding their tails in their mouths, one encircling the head and upper chest, the other surrounding the feet of a large figure, which may represent the unified Ra-Osiris. Both serpents are manifestations of the deity Mehen, who in other funerary texts protects Ra in his underworld journey; the whole divine figure represents the end of time.
The ouroboros appears elsewhere in Egyptian sources, like many Egyptian serpent deities, it represents the formless disorder that surrounds the orderly world and is involved in that world's periodic renewal. The symbol persisted in Egypt into Roman times, when it appeared on magical talismans, sometimes in combination with other magical emblems; the 4th-century AD Latin commentator Servius was aware of the Egyptian use of the symbol, noting that the image of a snake biting its tail represents the cyclical nature of the year. The famous ouroboros drawing from the early alchemical text, The Chrysopoeia of Cleopatra originally dating to third century Alexandria but first known in a tenth century copy, encloses the words hen to pan, "the all is one", its black and white halves may represent the Gnostic duality of existence, leading some to see it as an analog of the Taoist yin and yang symbol. The chrysopoeia ouroboros of Cleopatra the Alchemist is one of the oldest images of the ouroboros to be linked with the legendary opus of the alchemists, the philosopher's stone.
An aim of alchemists and adepts, described as "individual self-perfection through physical transmutation and spiritual transcendence" with a focus on the eternal unity of all things as well as the cycle of birth and death was familiar to the alchemist and physician Sir Thomas Browne. In his A Letter to a Friend, a medical treatise full of case-histories and witty speculations upon the human condition, he wrote of it:... that the first day should make the last, that the Tail of the Snake should return into its Mouth at that time, they should wind up upon the day of their Nativity, is indeed a remarkable Coincidence... In Gnosticism, a serpent biting the soul of the world; the Gnostic Pistis Sophia describes the ouroboros as a twelve-part dragon surrounding the world with his tail in his mouth. A 15th-Century alchemical manuscript, The Aurora Consurgens, features the ouroboros, where it is used amongst symbols of the sun and mercury. In Norse mythology, the ouroboros appears as the serpent Jörmungandr, one of the three children of Loki and Angrboda, which grew so large that it could encircle the world and grasp its tail in its teeth.
In the legends of Ragnar Lodbrok, such as Ragnarssona þáttr, the Geatish king Herraud gives a small lindworm as a gift to his daughter Þóra Town-Hart after which it grows into a large serpent which encircles the girl's bower and bites itself in the tail. The serpent is slain by Ragnar Lodbrok. Ragnar has a son with another woman named Kráka and this son is born with the image of a white snake in one eye; this snake encircled the iris and bit itself in the tail, the son was named Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye. It is a common belief among indigenous people of the tropical lowlands of South America that waters at the edge of the world-disc are encircled by a snake an anaconda, biting its own tail. In the Aitareya Brahmana, a Vedic text of the early 1st millennium BCE, the nature of the Vedic rituals is compared to "a snake biting its own tail."Ouroboros symbolism has been used to describe the Kundalini. According to the medieval Yoga-kundalini Upanishad, "The divine power, shines like the stem of a young lotus.
Storl refers to the ouroboros image in reference to the "cycle of samsara". Swiss psychologist Carl Jung saw the ouroboros as the basic mandala of alchemy. Jung defined the relationship of the ouroboros to alchemy: The alchemists, who in their own way knew more about the nature of the individuation process than we moderns do, expressed this paradox through the symbol of the Ouroboros, the snake that eats its own tail; the Ouroboros has been said to have a meaning of infinity or wholeness. In the age-old image of the Ouroboros lies the thought of devouring oneself and turning oneself into a circulatory process, for it was clear to the more astute alchemists that the prima materia of the art was man himself; the Ouroboros is a dramatic symbol for the integration and assimilation of the opposite, i.e. of the shadow. This'feed-back' process is at the same time a symbol of immortality, since it is said of the Ouroboros that he slays himself and brings himself to life, fertilizes himself and gives birth to himself.
He symbolizes the One, who proceeds from the clash of opposites, he therefore constitutes the secret of the prima materia which... unquestionably stems from man's unc
Albertus Magnus
Albertus Magnus, O. P. known as Saint Albert the Great and Albert of Cologne, was a German Catholic Dominican friar and bishop. Canonised as a Catholic saint, he was known during his lifetime as Doctor universalis and Doctor expertus and, late in his life, the sobriquet Magnus was appended to his name. Scholars such as James A. Weisheipl and Joachim R. Söder have referred to him as the greatest German philosopher and theologian of the Middle Ages; the Catholic Church distinguishes him as one of the 36 Doctors of the Church. It seems that Albert was born sometime before 1200, given well-attested evidence that he was aged over 80 on his death in 1280. More than one source says that Albert was 87 on his death, which has led 1193 to be given as the date of Albert's birth. Albert was born in Lauingen, since he called himself'Albert of Lauingen', but this might be a family name. Most his family was of ministerial class. Albert was educated principally at the University of Padua, where he received instruction in Aristotle's writings.
A late account by Rudolph de Novamagia refers to Albertus' encounter with the Blessed Virgin Mary, who convinced him to enter Holy Orders. In 1223 he became a member of the Dominican Order, studied theology at Bologna and elsewhere. Selected to fill the position of lecturer at Cologne, where the Dominicans had a house, he taught for several years there, as well as in Regensburg, Freiburg and Hildesheim. During his first tenure as lecturer at Cologne, Albert wrote his Summa de bono after discussion with Philip the Chancellor concerning the transcendental properties of being. In 1245, Albert became master of theology under Gueric of Saint-Quentin, the first German Dominican to achieve this distinction. Following this turn of events, Albert was able to teach theology at the University of Paris as a full-time professor, holding the seat of the Chair of Theology at the College of St. James. During this time Thomas Aquinas began to study under Albertus. Albert was the first to comment on all of the writings of Aristotle, thus making them accessible to wider academic debate.
The study of Aristotle brought him to study and comment on the teachings of Muslim academics, notably Avicenna and Averroes, this would bring him into the heart of academic debate. In 1254 Albert was made provincial of the Dominican Order, fulfilled the duties of the office with great care and efficiency. During his tenure he publicly defended the Dominicans against attacks by the secular and regular faculty of the University of Paris, commented on John the Evangelist, answered what he perceived as errors of the Islamic philosopher Averroes. In 1259 Albert took part in the General Chapter of the Dominicans at Valenciennes together with Thomas Aquinas, masters Bonushomo Britto and Peter establishing a ratio studiorum or program of studies for the Dominicans that featured the study of philosophy as an innovation for those not sufficiently trained to study theology; this innovation initiated the tradition of Dominican scholastic philosophy put into practice, for example, in 1265 at the Order's studium provinciale at the convent of Santa Sabina in Rome, out of which would develop the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, the "Angelicum".
In 1260 Pope Alexander IV made him bishop of Regensburg, an office from which he resigned after three years. During the exercise of his duties he enhanced his reputation for humility by refusing to ride a horse, in accord with the dictates of the Order, instead traversing his huge diocese on foot; this earned him the affectionate sobriquet "boots the bishop" from his parishioners. In 1263 Pope Urban IV relieved him of the duties of bishop and asked him to preach the eighth Crusade in German-speaking countries. After this, he was known for acting as a mediator between conflicting parties. In Cologne he is not only known for being the founder of Germany's oldest university there, but for "the big verdict" of 1258, which brought an end to the conflict between the citizens of Cologne and the archbishop. Among the last of his labors was the defense of the orthodoxy of his former pupil, Thomas Aquinas, whose death in 1274 grieved Albert. Albert was a scientist, astrologer, spiritual writer and diplomat.
Under the auspices of Humbert of Romans, Albert molded the curriculum of studies for all Dominican students, introduced Aristotle to the classroom and probed the work of Neoplatonists, such as Plotinus. Indeed, it was the thirty years of work done by Aquinas and himself that allowed for the inclusion of Aristotelian study in the curriculum of Dominican schools. After suffering a collapse of health in 1278, he died on November 15, 1280, in the Dominican convent in Cologne, Germany. Since November 15, 1954, his relics are in a Roman sarcophagus in the crypt of the Dominican St. Andreas Church in Cologne. Although his body was discovered to be incorrupt at the first exhumation three years after his death, at the exhumation in 1483 only a skeleton remained. Albert was beatified in 1622, he was canonized and proclaimed a Doctor of the Church on December 16, 1931, by Pope Pius XI and the patron saint of natural scientists in 1941. St. Albert's feast day is November 15. Albert's writings collected in 1899 went to thirty-eight volumes.
These displayed his prolific habits and encyclopedic knowledge of topics such as logic, botany, astronomy
Projection (alchemy)
Projection was the ultimate goal of Western alchemy. Once the Philosopher's stone or powder of projection had been created, the process of projection would be used to transmute a lesser substance into a higher form; the process is described as casting a small portion of the Stone into a molten base metal. The seventeenth century saw an increase in tales of physical projection; these are variously explained as examples of charlatanism, pseudo-scientific error, or missed metaphor. The following is a typical account of the projection process described by Jan Baptista van Helmont in his De Natura Vitae Eternae. I have seen and I have touched the Philosopher’s Stone more than once; the color of it was like saffron in powder. I had once given me the fourth of a grain - I call a grain that which takes 600 to make an ounce. I made projection with this fourth part of a grain wrapped in paper upon eight ounces of quicksilver heated in a crucible; the result of the projection was eight ounces, lacking eleven grains, of the most pure gold.
Other reports include: Elias Ashmole's Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum lists an account of Edward Kelley making projections from lesser metals into both gold and silver. Kelley’s success is recorded by John Dee. Alexander Seton was reported to have projected a heavy yellow powder onto a mixture of lead and sulphur resulting in a button of gold. A variety of accounts are given of Sendivogius performing public transmutations. In legend, Nicolas Flamel makes a projection of the red stone onto mercury. While it may not account for all claims of metallic transmutation, some alchemists of this time period give accounts of fraudulent projection demonstrations, distinguishing themselves from the projectors. Maier’s Examen Fucorum Pseudo-chymicorum and Khunrath’s Treuhertzige Warnungs-Vermahnung list tricks used by pseudo-alchemists. Accounts are given of double-bottomed crucibles used to conceal hidden gold during projection demonstrations; the concept of projection appears in various fictional works related to alchemy.
It’s a notable theme in Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist where the following dialogue can be found, commenting on fraudulent applications of projection: Charles John Samuel Thompson. Alchemy and Alchemists. Courier Dover Publications, 2002. Tara E. Nummedal. Alchemy and authority in the Holy Roman Empire. University of Chicago Press, 2007
Agastya
Agasthya was a revered Vedic sage of Hinduism. In the Indian tradition, 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. Agasthya appears in numerous puranas 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 for being one of the Tamil Siddhar in the Shaivism tradition. He is 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, 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. Agasthya 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, the Dvaidha-Nirnaya Tantra text.
He is referred to as Mana, Kumbhaja and Maitravaruni after his mythical origins. The etymological origin of Agastya has several theories. One theory states that the root is Aj or Anj, which connotes "brighten, effulgent one" and links Agastya to "one who brightens" in darkness, Agastya is traditionally the Indian name for Canopus, the second most brilliantly shining star found in South Asian skies, next to Sirius. Another claims that it is derived from a flowering tree called Agati gandiflora, endemic to the Indian subcontinent and is called Akatti in Tamil; this theory suggests that Agati evolved into Agastih, favors Dravidian origins of the Vedic sage. A third theory links it to Indo-European origins, through the Iranian word gasta which means "sin, foul", a-gasta would mean "not sin, not foul"; the fourth theory, based on folk etymology in verse 2.11 of the Ramayana states that Agastya is from aga and gam, together these roots connote "one, mover-of-mountains", or "mover-of-the-unmoving".
The word is written as Agasti and Agathiyar. Agastya is the named author of several hymns of the Rigveda; these hymns do not provide his biography. The origins of Agastya are mythical. Unlike most Vedic sages, he has neither a father in its legends, his miraculous birth follows a yajna being done by gods Varuna and Mitra, where the celestial apsara Urvashi appears. They are overwhelmed by her extraordinary sexuality, ejaculate, their semen falls into a mud pitcher, the womb in which the fetus of Agastya grows. He is born from this jar, along with his twin sage Vashistha in some mythologies; this mythology gives him the name kumbhayoni, which means "he whose womb was a mud pot". Agastya leads an ascetic life, educates himself, becoming a celebrated sage, he is not born to Brahmin parents, but is called a Brahmin in many Indian texts because of his learning. His unknown origins have led to speculative proposals that the Vedic era Agastya may have been a migrant Aryan whose ideas influenced the south, alternatively a native non-Aryan Dravidian whose ideas influenced the north.
According to inconsistent legends in the Puranic and the epics, the ascetic sage Agastya proposed to Lopamudra, a princess born in the kingdom of Vidharbha. Her parents were unwilling to bless the engagement, concerned that she would be unable to live the austere lifestyle of Agastya in the forest. However, the legends state that Lopamudra accepted him as her husband, saying that Agastya has the wealth of ascetic living, her own youth will fade with seasons, it is his virtue that makes him the right person. Therewith, Lopamudra becomes the wife of Agastya. In other versions, Lopamudra marries Agastya, but after the wedding, she demands that Agastya provide her with basic comforts before she will consummate the marriage, a demand that ends up forcing Agastya to return to society and earn wealth. Agastya and Lopamudra have a son named Drdhasyu, sometimes called Idhmavaha, he is described in the Mahabharata as a boy who learns the Vedas listening to his parents while he is in the womb, is born into the world reciting the hymns.
Agastya had a hermitage, but the ancient and medieval era Indian texts provide inconsistent stories and location for this ashram. Two legends place it in Northwest Maharashtra, on the banks of river Godavari, near Nashik in small towns named Agastyapuri and Akole. Other putative sites mentioned in Northern and Eastern Indian sources is near Kolhapur, or near Kannauj, or in Agastyamuni village near Rudraprayag, or Satpura Range. In Southern sources and the North Indian Devi-Bhagavata Purana, his ashram is based in Tamil Nadu, variously placed in Tirunelveli, Pothiyal hills, or Thanjavur. Agastya is mentioned in all the four Vedas of Hinduism, is a character in the Brahmanas, Upanishads and many Puranas, he is the author of hymns 1.165 to 1.191 of the Rigveda. He ran a Vedic school, as evidenced by hymn 1.179 of the Rigveda which credits its author to be his wife Lopamudra and his students. He was a respected sage in the Vedic era, as many other hymns of the Rigveda composed by other sages refer to Agastya.
The hymns composed by Agastya are known for verbal play and similes and puns, striking imagery embedded within his spiritual message. His Vedic poetry is notable for two
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