Sarayū Origin at Bindu Sarovara
The Yātrā Khaṇḍa of the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa gives an origin for the river Sarayū that traces it to Bhagavān Vishṇu’s tears of joy at getting the stolen Vedas back. The tears fell on the Himālaya and formed Bindu Sarovara, the lake of the drop. Vaivasvata Manu was doing tapas (austerity) at Bindu Sarovara. At Bhagavān Vishṇu’s word he shot an arrow into the lake, and the water flowed south and became the sacred Sarayū, which flows by Ayodhyā. Later Lakshmaṇa split the river into a second channel, and the place where the waters divided was named Dadri.
The occasion: Sītā’s vow
Rāma and Sītā were getting ready for the tīrtha-yātrā (journey to holy places). First they went toward the Gaṅgā to keep Sītā’s vow. On the way they stopped at the āśrama of Mudgala Muni, a famous muni who lived on the bank of the Sarayū. This stop led to the telling of how the Sarayū began. (Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Yātrā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 4)
Vishṇu’s tears and Bindu Sarovara
The Vedas had been stolen. Bhagavān Vishṇu got them back by his divine power and was overwhelmed with joy that they were restored. His eyes filled with tears of that joy. The tears fell on the peaks of the Himālaya and gathered into a sacred lake, Bindu Sarovara, the lake born from the drop (bindu) of Bhagavān Vishṇu’s tears.
So Bindu Sarovara is more than a lake in the mountains. Its water is full of the divine joy of Bhagavān Vishṇu, the bliss of the Vedas’ return turned into holy water. (Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Yātrā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 4)
The arrow of Vaivasvata Manu
Vaivasvata Manu is the forefather of the present human race and the king of this Manvantara. He was doing tapas at Bindu Sarovara on the Himālayan heights. Bhagavān Vishṇu told Manu to shoot an arrow into the lake. Manu obeyed. He drew his bow and sent an arrow into Bindu Sarovara.
The arrow broke open the edge of the lake, and the water began to flow. It followed the slope of the Himālaya southward, coming down from the mountains and running across the plains toward Ayodhyā. This flowing water became the Sarayū, the sacred river of Ayodhyā. (Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Yātrā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 4)
The Sarayū reaches Ayodhyā
The divine water began as Bhagavān Vishṇu’s tear of joy. It flowed through the foothills and plains until it reached the city of Ayodhyā, the very place where Bhagavān Vishṇu himself would come down as Rāma. The Sarayū flows around Ayodhyā as if drawn there by its own closeness to Bhagavān Vishṇu.
Its waters are moksha-dāyinī, giving liberation to all who bathe in them, because they began in the divine feeling of Bhagavān Vishṇu. (Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Yātrā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 4)
Lakshmaṇa divides the Sarayū: the birth of Dadri
In this same sarga the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa records that Lakshmaṇa, during the journey, split the Sarayū into a second channel. The place where the river was divided came to be called Dadri, a name taken from this act of division. From then on the Sarayū flowed in two channels. (Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Yātrā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 4)
Sītā’s worship of Gaṅgā at the confluence
After hearing how the Sarayū began, Sītā worshipped Gaṅgā in the proper way at the sacred meeting of the waters. In this way she kept the vow she had made in the years of forest exile: if Rāma came back victorious and was crowned, she would honour Gaṅgā with proper ritual. She did the pūjā with the prescribed saṅkalpa (solemn resolve), offerings and prayers. (Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Yātrā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 4)
Other accounts of the Sarayū’s source
The Ayodhyā Māhātmya of the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa says that the Sarayū came from the left foot of Bhagavān Vishṇu, as the Gaṅgā came from his right foot, and that the Sarayū comes from Mānasa lake (Mānasarovara) in the Himālaya.
In the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, the Mānasa Sarovara that Rāma visits on the northern yātrā (Sarga 9) is described as the place where the Sarayū begins.
Sources
- Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Yātrā Khaṇḍa, Sarga 4
- Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Yātrā Khaṇḍa, Sarga 9 (the Mānasa Sarovara)
- Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Ayodhyā Māhātmya