Kuśala and the Madhuvana Tīrtha

Kuśala was a poor brāhmaṇa. His wife was unfaithful, and after her death she was born as an alligator. Her son performed a śrāddha (rite for the ancestors) at Madhuvana tīrtha in Indraprastha. It freed six generations of his ancestors, and his mother with them. The Padma Mahā Purāṇa tells this in the Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapters 213 and 214.

Kuśala and his unfaithful wife

A brāhmaṇa named Kuśala lived in poverty. He was a good man, but his wife was unfaithful. She went after other men. She died as a result of that life. Because of the pāpa (sin) she had gathered, she was born as an alligator.

The son born under Budha’s śāpa

Kuśala’s wife had a son who was not Kuśala’s. He was born from an unfaithful union. This was the result of a śāpa (a curse) of Budha on a ṛshi’s family line, that a son would be born through adultery. The boy was born in bad circumstances, but he grew up with puṇya (merit) of his own.

The śrāddha at Madhuvana

A ṛshi gave the son the instruction of Bhagavān Vishṇu. The son was to perform śrāddha at Madhuvana tīrtha in Indraprastha. This tīrtha is also called Viśrānti tīrtha. Madhuvana is the holy grove where Bhagavān Vishṇu himself rested after his labours in the universe. The word viśrānta means “rested”.

The śrāddha at this place had great power. All six generations of ancestors were freed at the same moment, three above the person for whom the rite was done and three below. Kuśala’s wife had been held in the form of an alligator by her pāpa. At that moment she was freed and reached Vaikuṇṭha. Bhagavān Vishṇu himself appeared to the ṛshi’s son at Viśrānti tīrtha to confirm the freeing.

The greatness of Madhuvana

The Purāṇa declares Madhuvana the most powerful of all places for śrāddha in the Kali Yuga. It is greater than Gayā and all other tīrthas for the freeing of the dead. Even a person who did great pāpa is freed and goes to Vaikuṇṭha, if śrāddha is offered for him at Madhuvana-Viśrānti in Indraprastha.

Sources

• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 213
• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 214