Narada Purana (English translation)
by G. V. Tagare | 1950 | 14,468 words | ISBN-10: 8120803477 | ISBN-13: 9788120803473
This page describes The Glory of the Ganga (gangamahatmya) which is chapter 6 of the English translation of the Narada Purana—an ancient Sanskrit text within Hindu literature categorized as one of the eighteen Mahapuranas. It explores various aspects of cosmology, ethics, and rituals, compiling rich narratives that emphasize devotion to Vishnu and the concepts of Dharma (righteousness) and Bhakti (devotion). The Narada Purana also addresses Tantric practices, philosophical discourses on Yoga and self-realization.
Go directly to: Footnotes.
Chapter 6 - The Glory of the Gaṅgā (gaṅgāmāhātmya)
[See notes regarding the Gaṅgā river below]
Sūta said:
1. On hearing the glorification of devotion unto the Lord, Nārada was pleased, and he again asked Sanaka, the master of spiritual knowledge and philosophy.
Nārada said:
2. O Master of interpreting scriptural precepts! Kindly tell me the truth as to what is the excellent-most of all the places of pilgrimage and the sacred-most of all sacred spots.
Sanaka replied:
3. O Brāhmaṇa! Listen to this utmost secret which bestows all riches and which is the holy thing that destroys the effects of evil dreams, and the auspicious thing that is conducive to virtue and destructive of sins.
4. This should be listened to even by sages. It forever wards off the influence of evil planets, subdues all ailments and causes longevity.
5. Great sages say ṃat the confluence of the Gaṅgā and Yamunā[1] is the most excellent of all sacred spots, and the most sacred of all holy places.
6. All divinities headed by god Brahmā, all sages and all Manus, desirous of acquiring merits, resort to this sacred confluence of waters, with dark and white hues.
7. The Gaṅgā should be known as a merit-giving holy river since it has its source from the feet of Viṣṇu, O Brāhmaṇa, and the Yamunā[2] is born of the Sun. Hence their confluence is bound to be very auspicious.
8. O Sage, the Gaṅgā is the most distinguished of all rivers. When remembered, it destroys the distress and absolves the rememberers of all sins and removes all harms and injuries.
9. O great sage! The holy place called Prayāga[3] should be known as the sacred-most, and the most meritorious of all the holy spots on the earth, delimited by the oceans.
10. It was here that god Brahmā performed a sacrifice to propitiate the Lord of the goddess Lakṣmī. All sages also similarly perform different sacrifices for him.
11. The meritorious ablutions in all other sacred waters (taken together) do not deserve to be even a fraction, onesixteenth of the merits accrued from the ablution with a drop of water of the Gaṅgā.
12. Even a man staying a hundred yojanas away from the Gaṅgā and uttering repeatedly the name of Gaṅgā, is also released from all sins. What then of a person who actually performs ablution in the water of the Gaṅgā?
13. The goddess (viz. the holy river Gaṅgā) originating from Viṣṇu’s feet and held over the head respectfully by the Lord of the Universe (viz. Śiva), deserves to be resorted to by sages and gods. What need be said that it should be resorted to by hapless human beings?
14. If the sand of the Gaṅgā is applied on the forehead by excellent persons, it should be known that a brilliant (third) eye[4] will be developed there beneath a crescent moon (the devotee will have a similarity of form like god Śiva).
15. Bath taken into the Gaṅgā is highly meritorious. It is difficult to have it even to the resident of celestial regions. It bestows the Sārūpya[5] (similarity in form) with Viṣṇu. What more can be said to be greater than this?
16. Even sinners taking their bath there in the Gaṅgā become absolved of all their sins. Seated in a great aerial car, they proceed ahead to the highest region (Vaikuṇṭha).[6]
17. By taking their bath therein (in the Gaṅgā), noble-souled persons redeem thousands of members on the sides of their father’s family and mother’s family, and go to the region of Viṣṇu.
18. O Brāhmaṇa! There is no doubt in this that he who remembers the Gaṅgā attains the merit of performing ablutions in all the sacred waters and staying in all the holy places.
19. By the sight of a person who has taken a bath in the Gaṅgā, even a sinner attains to the celestial world. One should become over-Lord of gods merely by touching my body (i.e. the waters of the Gaṅgā).
20. The mud and dust from the root of the Tulasī plant, the foot of a Brāhmaṇa or from the bed of the river Gaṅgā confers upon people assimilation type of mukti-sārupyatā— (similarity of form) with Acyuta.
21. Extremely rare indeed are the following: viz. the Gaṅgā, the Tulasī plant, unflinching devotion to Hari and devoted attachment to the expounder of the Dharmas, (among the people).
22. A man endowed with devotion, who applies over his head the dust from the feet of the expounder of the sacred dharmas, or the dust and mud taken from the bed of the Gaṅgā, or from the root of the Tulasī plant, attains Viṣṇu’s region.
23. He who ardently desires and yearns, “When shall I go to the Gaṅgā? When shall I see that river?”, goes to the region of Viṣṇu.
24. It is not possible even for Viṣṇu to describe adequately the greatness of the Gaṅgā even in hundreds of years. Of what use is a garrulous talk by others, O Brāhmana?
25. It is exceedingly surprising that the Māyā deludes the entire universe, and that people do fall into the hell, despite the existence of the name of the Gaṅgā.
26. The name of the Gaṅgā is glorified as one that dispels the misery of the worldly existence. Similarly renowned is the plant Tulasī and devotion to the expounder of Hari’s glory.
27. He who mentions, even for once, the two syllables Gaṅgā, becomes completely liberated from all sins, and goes to the region of Viṣṇu.
28. He who goes within ṃree yojanas (one yojana= 12.8 km) of the Gaṅgā, becomes absolved from all sins, and attains to the region of the Sun.
29. The river Gaṅgā is highly meritorious. If resorted to, with great devotion, when the Sun is in Meṣa (the sign Aries of the Zodiac) and Tulā (Libra, the 7th sign of the zodiac as well as in the month of Mṛgaśīrṣa, it sanctifies the entire universe.
30-31. There are many holy rivers, viz. the Godāvarī,’ the Bhīmarathi,[7] the Kṛṣṇā,[8] the Revā,[9] the Sarasvatī,[10] Tuṅgabhadrā[11] the Kāverī,[12] the Kālindī,[13] the Bāhudā,[14] the Vetravatī,[15] the Tāmraparṇī,[16] the Sarayū,[17] etc. Among all these rivers, the Gaṅgā is remembered (in Smṛti works) as the holiest of all, O excellent Brāhmaṇa.
32. Just as the Omnipresent Viṣṇu stays, by pervading the whole of the universe, similarly, the Gaṅgā is all-pervading and destroys all sins.
33. The Gaṅgā is as if a nurse unto the universe. It sanctifies the world when bathed in it, or when its waters are drunk. Thus it is Pāvani (purifier). What a pity, that it is not resorted to by men!
34. Vārāṇasī[18] is well-known as the holiest of all holy centres, and the sacred-most of all sacred spots. It is resorted to by all Devas.
35. Only those two persons are intelligent: learned and well informed, and the men of Vedic learning by whom the word Kāśī[19] is frequently heard.
36. O excellent Brāhmaṇa! Those who remember the sacred place Avimukta[20] (i.e. Kāśī) shake off all their sins, and proceed to the region of god Śiva.
37. A man, even if standing at a distance of hundred ycjanas from it, remembers the holy place avimukta, attains to the region of no ailment i.e. Mokṣa, although he may be full of many sins.
38. O Brāhmaṇa! If at the time of breathing his last, a person remembers avimukta (at the last moment), he is released from sins and goes to the region of god Śiva.
39. The person enjoys the merits resulting from remembering Kāśī, in the heaven. At the end of that period, he is born as the sole emperor of the earth, and then after going to Kāśī, he attains salvation.
40. What need there is of a long exposition regarding the merits of Vārāṇasī? The fulfilment of the four-fold aims of human life (Puruṣārthas) is not far from those who at least take the name of Kāśī.
41. The confluence of the Gaṅgā and the Yamunā is superior even to Kāśī, O Brāhmaṇa. For, merely by having a look at it, men reach the highest goal (Liberation).
42. If ablution is performed anywhere in the Gaṅgā when the Sun is in the Makara (capricorn) sign of the zodiac, it sanctifies the universe by a bath in it or by drinking its water, it takes the whole universe to the capital of heaven (Indra’s city)[21].
43. Even god Śaṅkara, the benefactor of the world who assumes the form of a liṅga,[22] is always devoted to the Gaṅgā. How can its greatness be adequately described?
44. The Liṅga assumes the form of Hari. Lord Hari assumes the form of the Liṅga. There is not even the slightest difference between these two. One who differentiates between these, is a person of evil intellect.
45. Only sinners, immersed in the ocean of ignorance, seek to make any difference between Hari and Śaṅkara, the glorious Lords without beginning or end.
46. They (i.e. learned men) say that Lord Hari who is the ruler of all the worlds and the ultimate cause (of all the causes), assumes the form of Rudra at the end of the Yugas.
47. It is Lord Rudra who protects the entire universe in the form of Viṣṇu, and creates it assuming the form of Brahmā. In the final analysis, god Śiva alone is all these three.
48. The man who differentiates between Lord Hari, god Śiva and god Brahmā, goes to the exceedingly terrible hell.
49. This is the conclusion of all scriptures that he who sees Hara, Hari and Brahmā all constituting the same deity attains the supreme bliss.
50. God Viṣṇu (Janārdana) who is omniscient and beginningless, and who is the omnipresent Lord and Creator of the worlds, is ever present there (at Kāśī) in the form of a Liṅga.
51. The Liṅga of Lord Kāśī-Viśveśvara[23] is called Jyotirliṅga. On seeing it, the excellent one of men merges in the supreme light of Brahman.
52. If Kāśī, the sanctifier of the three worlds, is circumambulated,[24] it is as good as the circle-ambulation of the whole earth consisting of seven continents, oceans and mountains.
53. There are spotless (brilliant) mūrtis (images) of Śiva or Acyuta made of metals, clay, wood or stone or their representations in paintings, etc. But Lord Hari is present in them all.
54. God Hari is present wherever there is a grove of Tulasī plants or where there is a cluster of lotuses, or where the purāṇas are being read, O Brāhmaṇa.
55. The propounder of the text of the purāṇas is also called Hari. Men who are devoted to them have (to their credit the merit of performing) bath in the Gaṅgā every day.
56. It is stated in Smṛtis that pious inclination to listen to the purāṇas is on a par with the ablutions in the Gaṅgā, and devotion unto the propounder is comparable to bath into Prayāga.
57. He who, by recounting the purāṇa dharmas, redeems and uplifts the entire world that is sunk and immersed in the ocean of worldly existence, is glorified as Hari himself.
58. There is no other sacred water like that of the Gaṅgā. There is no greater teacher than (honour, selfconfidence. There is no other deity like Viṣṇu, and there is no other primary principle (or Brahman[25]) other than the spiritual preceptor.
59. Just as the Brāhmaṇa is the most excellent of all castes, or the moon is the best of all constellations, and just as the ocean is the best of all rivers, so the Gaṅgā is remembered as the greatest river.
60. There is no kinsman on a par with calmness; there is no greater penance than truthfulness: no other acquisition is greater than liberation from saṃsāra, and there is no other river on a par with the Gaṅgā.
61. The great name of the Gaṅgā is like a forest conflagration unto the jungle of sins. The Gaṅgā is the healer of the sickness called saṃsāra (worldly existence); hence, it should be resorted to with assiduity.
62. The Gāyatrī mantra and the river Gaṅgā both of these are remembered to be the destroyers of all sins, O Brāhmaṇa. A person who is lacking in devotion to these two, should be known as a fallen fellow, O Brāhmaṇa.
63. The Gāyatrī is the mother of all Vedic metres, the Gaṅgā is the mother of the world. Both of them are the cause of destruction of all sins.
64. If any one is favoured by Gāyatrī, the Gaṅgā too is pleased wiṃ him. Both of these possess the potency of Viṣṇu and both equally bestow desired objects as well as renown.
65. Both of them are quite pure. They are, as it were, the fructification of the Puruṣārthas (desired objectives of human life, viz. righteousness, wealth, love and liberation from saṃsāra).
These great and excellent ones function for conferring blessings on the world.
66. Rare indeed and very difficult to attain are the Gāyatrī, the Gaṅgā, devotion to the Tulasī plant and devotion of Sāttvic nature to Hari.
67. O! How blessed is the Gaṅgā! On being remembered, it destroys sins, on being seen it bestows the region of Hari. When its water is drunk, it grants sārūpya (similarity of form like Viṣṇu). And men who perform ablutions therein, attain the excellent region of Viṣṇu.
68. God Nārāyaṇa, the Greater of the Universe, Vāsudeva, the eternal deity, is the bestower of the fruits of all desired objects, to persons who are devoted to regular ablutions in the waters of Gaṅgā.
69. The excellent person who is sprinkled with at least a drop of water of Gaṅgā, is liberated from all sins and he attains the highest region, Vaikuṇṭha.
70. It is only by taking in just a drop of its water that a descendant in the family of King Sagara,[26] eschewed the state of Rākṣasa and attained to the supreme region.
Notes regarding the Gaṅgā river:
The holiest of the rivers in India. It is eulogized since Vedic times (e.g. RV. 10.75.5, Tait. Ār. 10.1.13, Mahānārāyaṇa Up. 5.4) The Mahābhārata & Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa are full of semi-historical legends about it e.g. Gaṅgā’s marriage with king Śantanu (Mahābhārata.ādi. chs 96 to 98). King Bhagīratha’s success in bringing down the Gaṅgā on the earth (Mahābhārata Vana. chs 108, 109, Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa Bāla cantos 43, 44 Bd. ch.97) seems to be a saga of the attempts of 3 generations of kings of Ayoḍhyā to irrigate the parched plains of the U.P. in their kingdom. During the course of flowing, the river was swallowed up and allowed to flow by king Jahnu, and hence it came to be known as his daughter Jāhnavī. This is an allegorical description of the major changes in the course of the river. There are six Jahnu-āśramas, e.g. 1st, at Bhairavaghati near Gangotri at the confluence of the Bhāgīrathī and the Jāhnavī; the 2nd at Kanauj, the last being at Jamnagar 4 miles to the West of Nadia (The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India-The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India 61-62). The description of the descent of the Gaṅgā (Bhāgavata Purāṇa. 5.17.2-9 & Mahābhārata Bhīsma 6.88-50) is a traditional memory of the land which the Indo-Aryans left behind in some ancient past, where from ‘mount Meru’ (prob. Pamirs), big rivers like the Sitā, the Alakanandā, the Cakṣu and the Bhadrā flowed in four directions. Geographers have now identified them and have shown that there is much truth in the racial memory couched in poetical terms in Purāṇas (vide N.L. The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India under respective heads; also D. P. Misra—Proto-history of India).
The Gaṅgā came to be regarded so holy unanimously, due to the purity of its water, which does not deteriorate even after long storage. The scientists and engineers of the Roorkee university have experimentally shown that this is due to the presence of (1) radio-active-minerals, (2) bacteriophages and (3) metallic compounds in the river-bed which possess bacteri-cidal properties (The Sunday Standard, Bombay dt. 26-9-76, p.8). The ancient Hindus discovered this undeteriorating quality of the Gaṅgā water by their experience, and it has been the practice in many homes to keep vases or container of the Gaṅgā water for daily worship, and to use it to purify a dying person of sins, by pouring some drops of Gaṅgā-water in his mouth. This purity led to the belief that not only bath in the Gaṅgā or drinking a few drops of its water, but even remembering the name of the river had sanctifying influence. Most of the Purāṇas contain some verses or chapters on the glorification of Gaṅgā or Gaṅgā-māhātmya. As expected, some verses are common to many Gaṅgā-māhātmyas.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Yamunā or Kālindī
Next to the Gaṅgā, the Yamunā is regarded as the No. 2 holy river in India. It is mentioned along with the Gaṅgā since Vedic Times (vide Gaṅgā above). It is regarded as the daughter of the-Sun-god and Yama’s sister (DevīP. ch. 45). It rises in Kālinda-giri (a portion of the ‘bandara-puccha’—mountain, The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India—The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India, p. 215), and hence is called Kālindī. The comparatively dark colour of its waters is attributed to the bath of god Śiva who, after the death of his first wife Satī, was in an excited mood, in which condition, being shot at by Kāmadeva (Cupid), became intolerably troubled and jumped into the Yamunā to extinguish the fire of his agony, changing the colour of its water to darkness (Vāmana P. ch. 6). The association of Kṛṣṇa’s līlās (sports) on its banks, and his rāssa līlā with gopīs (which some believe continues unending), has immortalised the river in the hearts of Indians. It, being a very sacred river since the Vedic times, kings like Ambarīṣa, Bharata, Śantanu performed sacrifices on its bank (Mahābhārata vana chs 90, 129, 162; Droṇa 68.8). Its confluence with the Gaṅgā at Prayāga (Allahabad) made it a highly sacred place to Hindus.
[2]:
Yamunā or Kālindī
Next to the Gaṅgā, the Yamunā is regarded as the No. 2 holy river in India. It is mentioned along with the Gaṅgā since Vedic Times (vide Gaṅgā above). It is regarded as the daughter of the-Sun-god and Yama’s sister (DevīP. ch. 45). It rises in Kālinda-giri (a portion of the ‘bandara-puccha’—mountain, The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India—The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India, p. 215), and hence is called Kālindī. The comparatively dark colour of its waters is attributed to the bath of god Śiva who, after the death of his first wife Satī, was in an excited mood, in which condition, being shot at by Kāmadeva (Cupid), became intolerably troubled and jumped into the Yamunā to extinguish the fire of his agony, changing the colour of its water to darkness (Vāmana P. ch. 6). The association of Kṛṣṇa’s līlās (sports) on its banks, and his rāssa līlā with gopīs (which some believe continues unending), has immortalised the river in the hearts of Indians. It, being a very sacred river since the Vedic times, kings like Ambarīṣa, Bharata, Śantanu performed sacrifices on its bank (Mahābhārata vana chs 90, 129, 162; Droṇa 68.8). Its confluence with the Gaṅgā at Prayāga (Allahabad) made it a highly sacred place to Hindus.
[3]:
Prayāga.
Modern Allahabad. A very sacred place due to the confluence of the two holiest rivers—the Gaṅgā and the Yamunā. The Sarasvatī is supposed to join this confluence and hence it is called triveṇī-saṅgama. According to Mahābhārata, at Prayāga deities right from Brahmā, guardians of the world and the cardinal points (Lokapāla, Dikpāla), Pitṛs (manes) great sages, Nāgas and even god Mahāviṣṇu are present here. If one bathes at the triveṇī confluence one gets the merit of performing the horse-sacrifice and the Rājasūya together. (Vana 85.70-86).
Purūravas, the son of Ilā, probably the leader of the earliest Indo-Aryan colonizers from Ilāvarta selected this then strategically important site and established his capital here. It was then called Pratiṣṭhāna—a permanent settlement. Here Nahuṣa, Yayāti, Puru, Duṣyanta and Bharata reigned (Brahma P. Chs 10-12). This place is now called Jhusi, and is a part of the precincts of Prayāga. This sacred place is highly praised in Padma Purāṇa Svarga khaṇḍa, chs 41,42,43. Km P. regards this as “the most blessed, heaven-giving, auspicious, meritorious and sanctifying” of all sacred places (1.38.12), and recommends that death at Prayāga leads to the highest region (Ibid. V.5). There is the celebrated Akṣaya Vaṭa (undecaying banyan tree) in the fort which Akbar built in 1581 a.d. on the ruins of a Hindu fort. Padma Purāṇa Svarga 43.11 recommends death at the foot of this tree. According to Hiuen Tsiang, people used to end their life at this banyan tree for attaining heaven.
The Khairha plate of Yaśaḥ-Karṇadeva (1073 a.d.) records that king Gāṅgeya obtained release along with his 100 wives at the famous banyan tree of Prayāga.
prāpte prayāga-vaṭa-mūlaniveśa-bandhau
sārdham śatena gṛhiṇībhir amutra muktim—Ep. Indi. XII. 205 p.211.
Prayāga still holds powerful influence on all religious minded Hindus.
[4]:
The eye on the forehead
The identification of Rudra and Fire—Sacrificial fire in later Vedic times, seems to have transferred The Kapālāgni, fire on the circular earthen plate for baking Purodāś which is kept near the yajña-kuṇḍa, to the Kapāla (forehead of Śiva as Kapāla means both ‘earthen plate’ and ‘a forehead’. But according to Purāṇas, God Śiva has three eyes, the two normal eyes are the sun and the moon, and the third eye is the Fire-god. He opens it only to destroy the enemy (like Kāmadeva) or the universe. Although popular belief attributes the opening of the third eye of fire due to the playful shutting of his two eyes by his divine consort Pārvatī. Mahābhārata.Anu, 140.33-38 attributes the fire to Nārāyaṇa which after burning (a part of) the Himalaya subsided and submitted itself at Kṛṣṇa’s feet. In Nārada Purāṇa this reference is to glorify the efficacy of the application of the sand of the Gaṅgā to one’s forehead as it gives the applier sārūpya (similarity of form) like god Śiva.
[5]:
Sārūpya
This is a type or state of Liberation in which the liberated soul has the appearance or form like the deity. The Bhāgavata Purāṇa enumerates five such types as follows:
Out of these, sālokatā—residence in the same region of the Deity (e.g. Vaikuṇṭha, Kailāsa), samīpatā—Being in the proximity of the Deity, sarūpatā or sārupya—as above, sāyujyatā—Intimate union or absorption into the Deity, sārṣṭitā or sārṣṭya—is the last stage consisting of equality with the Supreme Being in power and all the divine attributes of the Deity.
[6]:
Vaikuṇṭha
The region of Mahāviṣṇu (Bhāgavata Purāṇa9.4.60). The Vedic seers regarded Viṣṇu’s place as supreme and glowing like an extensive ‘eye’ in heaven (RV. 1.22.20) and contains the eternal source of honey (RV. 1.154.5). Its location was high up in the sky. The Bhāgavata Purāṇa thinks that it is beyond the three worlds, and is endowed with innate splendour. It has elaborated and remodelled earlier ideas about the abode of Viṣṇu. The Vaikuṇṭha dhāman is the highest region of Viṣṇu endowed with an outer garden called—Naiḥśreyas. It is liberation incarnate and has the privilege of simultaneous revelry of all the six seasons bursting upon the wish-yielding tree. It abounds in singing birds, golden chariots, women with explosive beauty and captivating smiles yet evoking no baser passions, etc. (Bhāgavata Purāṇa3.15. 16-22 also vide 2.9. 10-17). Later purāṇas like Padma Purāṇa Svarga khaṇḍa regarded it as situated on a higher plane than the region of Brahmā and is 18 crore yojanas (= 144 crores of miles) far above the earth.
bhūr-lokāt-parisaṅkhyātaḥ koṭir aṣṭādaśa prabho /—(vide Śabda-kalpa-druma IV.p.507).
It is called Vaikuṇṭha as it is a stage of existence free from worldly limitations (kuṇṭhā).
[7]:
The Bhīmarathī
Also called Bhīmarathā and Bhīmār The Mahābhārata regards it as one of the holiest rivers in India which absolves one of all sins (Kana 88.3 Bhīṣma 9.20). 11 rises near Bhimāśaṅkara, one of the twelve jyotir-liṅgas, in the Western Ghats, in Poona District and joins the Kṛṣṇā near Raychur. The famous Vaiṣṇavite centre Pandharpur and the sacred shrine of Viṭṭhala is on the bank of the Bhīmarathī which, due to its crescent shape there, is called Candrabhāgā. Balarāma had visited this place during his pilgrimage (Bhāgavata Purāṇa. 10.79.12).
[8]:
The Kṛṣṇā—
The river is mentioned in the Mahābhārata Bhīṣma 9.33, Bhāgavata Purāṇa. 5.19.18, Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa Kiṣkindhā 4). It rises at Mahabaleśvara in Western Ghats in Satara district, flows through Maharashtra, Kamatak and Andhra Pradeśa and falls into the Bay of Bengal at Sippelar near Masulipatam (The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India—The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India, p. 104). In purāṇas it is always associated with the Veṇā, Veṇṇā, Veṇṇī, or the Veṇvā and the Mahābhārata Vana 85.37-38 states that bath at the devahrada (prob, confluence) of the Kṛṣṇā and Veṇṇā confers the memory of one’s previous births, D.C. Sircar is not correct when he says, ‘The Veṇvā is the modem Varṇā running between the Satara and Kolhapur districts GAMI. (Studies in The Geography of Ancient and Medieval India, p 59).
Apart from the name of Satara dist. instead of that of Sangli for the location of the Vārṇā, the main fact remains that there is a river called the Veṇṇā in Satara district—a sister of the Kṛṣṇā as its source is the same—which joins the Kṛṣṇā in Satara district.
The late Prof. Dr. (Mrs.) Irawati Karve, from the Deccan College, Poona, told me that on sociological grounds the Kanhan and the Benna from Vidarbha have a better claim to be ancient Kṛṣṇā and Veṇṇā, as the culture of the people in the present Kṛṣṇā—Veṇṇā valley is pro-Dravidian, and the derivation Kanhan < Kṛṣṇā and Bennā < Veṇṇā is quite plausible.
[9]:
The Revā
So called because of the roaring sound created by its current while breaking its way through the Amarkantaka mountain.
bhitvā śailaṃ ca vipulam prayātyevam mahārṇavam /
bhrāmayantī diśaḥ sarvā raveṇa mahatā purā //
plāvayantī virājantī tena revā iti smṛtā //—Skanda Purāṇa V. Revā khaṇḍa 6.37-38
In fact, the major part of the Revā khaṇḍa naturally gloriñes the Revā or Narmadā. The Bhāgavata Purāṇa. distinguishes between the Revā and the Narmadā (Bhāgavata Purāṇa. 5.19.18). Skanda Purāṇa. (1.1.31.103, V. 1.56.6 and 1.1.18.153) reconciles this by stating that though the Revā and the Narmada were originally different, they joined together and formed the Southern Gaṅgā. It forms the traditional boundary between the North and Souṃ India (Bhāgavata Purāṇa. 549.18). It rises in the Amarkaṇtak hills and falls into the Gulf of Cambay near Broach. Maheshwar (ancient Māhiṣmatī of king Sahasrārjuna, a jyotir-liṅga, Oṃkāra Māndhātā, are on its bank. It is regarded as highly meritorious to go round the course of this river. Padma Purāṇa Svarga. chs 17-22. glorify the Narmadā. Balarāma visited this river during his pilgrimage (Bhāgavata Purāṇa. 10.79.21).
[10]:
The Sarasvatī
Though now practically non-existent in its pristine glory, the Sarasvatī is a very famous river from the Vedic times and is mentioned in RV. 6.61, 7.95.1-2, 10.17.7-9. From RV.7.95.1-2, it appears to be a mighty river flowing to the Arabian sea. It rises in the Sirmur hills of the Siwalik range in the Himalayas. The fountain—the source of the river—was at the foot of a Plakṣa (Indian fig.) tree, and it became known as Plakṣāvataraṇa or Plakṣaprasravaṇa, now a place of pilgrimage. It emerges into the plain at Ād-Badri in the Ambala District. It disappears at Chalaur, but reappears at Bhavānī-pura; then it disappears at Balchappar, but again appears at Bara Khera. It is later joined by the Mārkaṇḍā at Urnali near Pehoa and the joint stream under the name Sarasvatī falls into the Ghaggar which is believed to have the name Sarasvatī in ancient times.
Vedic seers prayed the river for glorious treasures, and milk, and wished to stay on her banks for ever. The Atharva veda describes Maruts ploughing barley on its banks. The spread of Aryan culture from the land of the Sarasvatī to Kosala is symbolically described in the Śatapatha 1.4.1.10 ff. as the carrying of sacrificial fire by Videgha Māthava to the east. The Mahābhārata. and the purāṇas speak of its disappearance at Vinaśana-tīrtha near Sirsa. It is associated with sages Dadhīca (Mahābhārata Vana 100.13,) Vasiṣṭha (Śalya 42.29) and Vyāsa (Bhāgavata Purāṇa. 1.1.4.15.4-15). Sacrifices were performed on its banks by kings like Matināra (Ādi 95.26-27), Yayāti, Nahuṣa, Puru and later by Kṛṣṇa. Vidura and Balarāma visited it as pilgrims (Bhāgavata Purāṇa. 3-1.22 & 10.78.18). After the death of Kṛṣṇa, his 16000 wives drowned themselves to death in the Sarasvatī (Mahābhārata.Svarga 5.25). The archaeological explorations of the Sarasvatī—Ghaggar—Hakra bed proved that the Vedic and epic tradition about the Sarasvatī being once a mighty river with a continuous and perennial flow down to the Arabian Sea, is correct. According to the evidence available, the river dried up due to serious seismic disturbances towards the end of the Vedic period. The hydrographical and archaeological investigations by Suraj Bhan have shown that in the late Harappan times, the desiccation of the river had already started resulting in the shifting of her settlements to the upper valley (The Sunday Standard, Bombay 19-9-76). Hence the fervent prayers in Vedas not to deprive the seer of its water. Purāṇic stories of Sarasvatī carrying Vaḍavānala to the sea, and her disappearance through the fear of being touched by Ābhīras and other wild tribes.
The rejuvenation of the Sarasvatī by diverting surplus waters of the Yamunā, Rākhī and other rivers would transform the desert of Rajasthan into a granary of India.
[11]:
The Tuṅgabhadrā
A tributary of the Kṛṣṇā. It is due to the confluence of two rivers, the Tuṅgā and the Bhadrā (at Kudali in Shimoga dist., Karnatak) that the river came to be called Tuṅgabhadrā. It joins the Kṛṣṇā beyond Curnool. The ancient Kiṣkiṇḍhā of Sugrīva was situated on its bank. It is also called Tuṅgaveṇī {Mahābhārata.Bhīṣma 9.27) and is a very holy river (Bhāgavata Purāṇa. 5.19.18).
[12]:
The Kāverī
One of the holiest rivers in India. It rises from a fountain Candra Tīrtha (Kūrma Purāṇa 2.37) in the Brahmagiri mountaṃ in Coorg. Famous sacred places like Śrīraṅga [śrīraṅgam], Trichanapalli and Kumbhakoṇa [kumbhakonam] are on its banks. The Kaveri falls at Śiva samudra are famous for natural beauty. According to Skanda Purāṇa. God Śiva gave this river to sage Agastya who carried it in his Kamaṇḍalu (a waterbowl of gourd), and while Agastya was deep in meditation at Brahmagiri, Gaṇapati, at the request of Indra, upset the bowl and secured the river for the parched region of South India. (Mentioned as a very holy river in Mahābhārata Vana 85,12 and Bhāgavata Purāṇa. 5.19.18).
[13]:
The Kālindī
Vide Yamunā, above. Note No. 2.
[14]:
The Bāhudā
Modem scholars differ on its identification. Pargiter identifies it with the Rāmagaṅgā which joins the Gaṅgā near Kanauj (His. Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa.P. ch. 57). The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India regards it as Dhavalā (modern Dhumelā or Buḍhī Rāptī) a tributary of the Rāptī (The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India, p.16). The sage Likhita got his arm restored by bathing in this river; hence it is called arm-giver or Bāhudā—(Mahābhārata Śānti. 23.39-40). Gaurī, wife of king Prasenajit was cursed by her husband and was transformed into a river called Bāhudā. Observance of fast and celibacy for one night on this river confers a godhood in heaven (Mahābhārata Vana 84.67-68; 95.4).
[15]:
The Vetravatī
Modern Betwā, a tributary of the Yamunā. A river of all India importance (Mahābhārata Bhīṣma 16-19).
[16]:
The Tāmraparṇī.
Also the Tāmbraparṇī, Tāmbravari. It rises in the Agastya-kūṭa mountain, and joins the gulf of Manar celebrated for pearlfishery. Pandyan king Malayadhvaja stayed after retirement from kingship here (Bhāgavata Purāṇa. 4.28.35, 5.19.18).
[17]:
The Sarayū
The Ghagra or Gogra in Oudh on which Ayodhya was situated. The river rises in Kumaun and after its confluence with the Kālīnadī, it is called the Śarayū or ‘Ghagra’. According to Mahābhārata, it is one of the seven streams of the Gaṅgā (Ādi 169.20-21). Vasiṣṭha brought it to the Mānasa lake whence it dashed forth as the Sarayū from that lake (Anu. 155.23-24). From a Tīrtha called Gopratāra in Sarayu, Rāma along with all his followers, went to His highest abode. Mere remembrance of the river sanctifies a person (Anu. 165.21).
[18]:
Vārāṇasī
Also known as Kāśī, Avimuktakṣetra, Mahāśmaśāna, Rudrakṣetra or Ānandavana in Purāṇas.
Vārāṇasī is the holiest town in India where two great religions Hinduism (Brahmanism) and Buddhism flourished. Originally Vārāṇasī was the capital of the ancient State (Janapada) Kāśī and is so mentioned in the Mahāgovinda Suttanta in Dīgha Nikāya 11.235 (also vide the Aṅguttara Nikāya (1.213, IV. 252, 256) and the Bhagavatī—XV. Uddesa I) The name is derived from the river-names the Varuṇā (Vāraṇā) and Āsī which join there, and the myth of one king Banār giving his name to Benares is an instance of popular etymology. Kāśis the early Aryan settlers, selected this then strategically important site, due to the protection afforded by the rivers the Gaṅgā, the Varuṇā and the Āsī against the hostile aboriginals, and an all the year round safe route of communications with the Aryan colonies to their West. Havel in his Benares, the sacred city states that Vārāṇasī might have been the centre of primitive Sun-worship, and Brāhmaṇas glorified it in all their purāṇas and the Skandha purāṇa devoted one full book (Part IV) as Kāśī khaṇḍa for describing all the sacred places and legends connected with Kāśī, The Buddha selected Vārāṇasī for his 1st sermon—‘setting the wheel of dharma in motion’, and the Aśokan Stūpa at Sāranāth [Sarnath] commemorates the site of the 1st sermon of the Buddha. Pārśvanātha, the historical founder of Jainism belonged to Vārāṇasī, This glory of Vārāṇasī attracted Muslim invasions which razed to the ground its ancient glory. It, however, continued to be the centre of learning despite political and religious troubles, and great saints like Caitanya, Rāmānanda, Vallabha, Kabir, Ekanāth, Tulasīdās visited the place and settled there for some part of their life and some permanently. In the 18th century, the Marathas who controlled the Moghul rulers of Delhi, used their influence in the rebuilding of ancient shrines and religious institutions thereof, and the present temple of Viśvanātha was built by Rani Ahilya Bai of Indore in 1777. It is hoped that Vārāṇasī may regain its ancient glory in the postindependence period.
[19]:
Kāśī
Though Kāśī is identified with Vārāṇasī here, it is originally the name of a state (Janapada) colonised by an Indo-Aryan tribe Kāśis. Kāśi as a Janapada is recorded in Brahmanical, Buddhist and Jain sources as mentioned above. The Kāśī clan of Aryans seems to be allied with the Kassites who conquered Babylon in 1700 B.C.,even though the Aryanisation of the region called Kāśi was at a later Vedic period. Kāśi (and its joint name Kāśī-kosala) often occurs in the Brāhmaṇa period. It was an independent state at the time of the Buddha, but soon after submitted to and formed a part of the empire of Magadha. As noted above Vārāṇasī was its capital but today both are the parts of the same city-complex. The author of Skandapurāṇa is conscious of the bigger geographical extent of Kāśi and calls that section of Skanda Purāṇa as Kāśī-khaṇḍa and not Vārāṇasi-māhātmya or some such name. Now, most of us regard Kāśī and Vārāṇasī as identical.
[20]:
Avimukta
As per Skanda Purāṇa.IV. (Kāśikhaṇḍa) i.39.71-78 God Śiva manifested himself here and did not leave the place and that the sight of the liṅga confers complete liberation from Saṃsāra. Hence, the significance of the name avimuktaka.
[22]:
Liṅga
The word means ‘a distinguishing mark’ ‘characteristic’ and is used in this sense by all Brāhmaṇa and non-Brāhmaṇa śāstric writers e.g. Br.Sū.4.1.2 liṅgācca. For stating nudity as the distinguishing mark of a Śramaṇa, Kundakunda (in Pravacanasāra 3.25) says: uvayaraṇam jiṇamagge liṅgam jaha-jada-rūvam idi bhaṇitam The Śiva-liṅga is the symbol of the sacrificial fire ablaze. Rudra is identified with the Fire in RV.2.1.6, 3.2.5. etc. in Atharva Veda7.87.1. and in the Tait.Saṃhitā 5.4.3.1 etc. The 8 epithets Śarva, Bhava, Paśupati, etc. are common to Rudra and Agni (Atharva Veda15.5.1-7, Śatapatha Br.1.7.3.8). The burial of skulls of animals under some sacrificial altars explains his epithets as “dweller in crematory”, “five-facedness” etc. if Tait. Saṃhitā 5,7.10.1 is properly explained. The Liṅga as a ‘phallic symbol’ shows the ignorance of the Vedic identification of Rudra and the Sacrificial fire. It may be noted that some female deities e.g. Madālasā, the divine spouse of Khaṇḍobā—an incarnation of god Śiva, has a Liṅga as her representation, along with that of her spouse Śiva or Khāṇḍobā. Śiva Liṅgas are found on the heads of gods like Viṭṭhala of Pandharpur and goddesses like Viśālākṣī. G.B. Dandage of Kolhapur in his Rudra, Yajña āṇi Śiva-liṅga (Kolhapur 1970) has made out a good case about the identity of Rudra and Sacrificial fire and shown the weakness of the Phallic worship theory.
[23]:
Kāśī Viśveśvara:
The presiding Deity of Kāśī and the main jyotir-liṅga in the 12 jyotir-liṅgas in India, it is glorified very highly in the Kāśī-Khaṇḍa (Skanda Purāṇa IV.ii.ch.99) according to which it is the Liṅga par excellence (ibid verse 51). It means, to the best of the knowledge of the author of Skanda Purāṇa Kāśī-khaṇḍa, god Śiva is represented in the form a liṅga at this place since time immemorial. The facts are otherwise. In the 7th cent, a.d., when Hiuen Tsiang visited the place, there was an august brass statue of about 100 feet height of god Mahādeva. To quote his words: “The statue of Deva Maheśvara, made of brass, is somewhat less than 100 feet high. Its appearance is grave and majestic, and it appears as though really living.” The iconoclastic fervour of Muslims razed important Hindu statues, images, shrines and the stones were used to construct their mosques and buildings even as far as jaunpur (N.L. The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India-The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India, pp. 23-25). The fortunes of this god had their ups and downs, as Vārāṇasī changed hands from Hindus to Buddhists, ultimately to rest for sometime with the Hindu kings of Kanauj. But the temple and the Deity suffered worst at the hands of Muslims, in spite of attempts of Hindu chiefs under Moghuls, like Raja Todarmal and Hindu religious leaders. Sikhs and Marathas sealed the fate of the Moghul empire, and a Maratha queen Rani Ahilyabai Holkar of Indore built the present temple of Kāśī Viśveśvara in 1777.
[24]:
Kāśī-pradakṣiṇā
This is a religious custom to show respect to a sacred place, shrine or town in which the Deity is situated. It consists of circumambulating the sacred object showing our right side to the deity after saluting it.
prasārya dakṣiṇaṃ hastaṃ svayaṃ namra-śirāḥ punaḥ /
dakṣiṇaṃ darśayan pārśvam manasā'pi ca dakṣinaḥ //
Kālikā and other purāṇas quoted in Śabda-kalpa-druma Part III.pp.273-74.
[26]:
King Sagara Śabda-Kalpa-Druma (śabda-kalpa-druma) Vol.II.p. 581.
A king worth remembering at dawn and dusk (Mahābhārata.Anu. 165.49) Posthumous son of king Bāhuka of the Ikṣvāku dynasty who, being deprived of his kingdom by Tālajaṃghas lived in exile in a forest near the hermitage of sage Aurva. His younger wife Yādavī who was pregnant, wanted to immolate herself after Bāhuka’s death, but was prohibited from doing so by Aurva who told her that, the child in her womb, was destined to be an emperor of the world. The senior queen who was issueless became jealous of her younger cowife and administered poison to her, with a view to kill the child in its embryonic stage. But as fortune would have it, a son along with the poison (sagara) was born. (Brahma Purāṇa. 2.3.48-49). The child grew up in Aurva’s hermitage and presumed Aurva to be his father. The mother told him the story of her life, and Sagara determined to reconquer Ayodhyā. In the meanwhile, Vasiṣṭha and the citizens of Ayodhyā whose struggle of liberation was going on, got a leader in Sagara, and he reconquered his father’s kingdom and ruled at Ayodhyā.
Sagara subdued the Tālajaṅghas and became the absolute monarch of the world. From his queen Sumati, he had a son Asamañjasa who troubled his subjects, and was exiled for that. He had 60,000 sons from the lump of flesh delivered by his second wife Keśini.
Sagara performed 99 horse-sacrifices, but when he was to perform the 100th sacrifice, Indra, being afraid of losing his position, stole the horse and kept it near sage Kapila’s hermitage in the nether world. Sagara’s 60000 sons traced the horse by means of its hoof-prints, and dug down to Pātāla. The horse was near the hermitage of Kapila, who was immersed in meditation. Thinking him to be the horse-thief, they attacked him only to get reduced to ashes. (Mahābhārata Vana 107.33).
Sagara retired making Aṃśumān, the son of prince Asamañjasa, as the next (Mahābhārata Purāṇa Vana 107.64) king and performed penance for bringing down the Gaṅgā on the ashes in Aurvāśrama. (Bhāgavata Purāṇa9.8.5-31). He was strictly Vegetarian (Mahābhārata.Anu. 115.66).