Agastya is the great sage of the south who gives Rama divine weapons in the forest, sends him to Panchavati and, before the final battle, teaches him the Aditya Hridayam hymn to the Sun. In the Uttara Kanda he tells Rama the history of Ravana's race.
Who was Agastya?
Agastya is famous in tradition for drinking the ocean, humbling the Vindhya mountains and bringing Vedic culture to the south. In the Aranya Kanda, Rama visits his hermitage after ten years in the Dandaka forest, and Agastya gives him Vishnu's bow, an inexhaustible quiver and a golden sword.
On the battlefield of Lanka, as Rama tires before his duel with Ravana, Agastya appears and teaches him the Aditya Hridayam, a hymn to the Sun that brings victory. After the war he leads the sages who visit Rama in Ayodhya and narrates most of the Uttara Kanda's histories, from the origin of the rakshasas to the boyhood of Hanuman.
In the Valmiki Ramayana
Agastya appears in 17 sargas across 4 Kandas.
