Origin of Pañcanada

Pañcanada is the holiest bathing place in Kāśī, beside Bindumādhava. It is a meeting of five sacred streams. Chapter 59 of the Kāśī Khaṇḍa, in the Uttarārdha of the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, tells how these streams came to be and what a bath there gives.

Vedaśiras and the birth of Dhūtapāpā

In ancient times, among the great ṛshis who did tapas (austerity) near Kāśī was Vedaśiras, a ṛshi of the Bhṛgu line. The apsarā Śucī came to his āśrama. From their union a daughter was born, Dhūtapāpā. Her name means “she who shakes off pāpa (sin)”.

From childhood this daughter did hard tapas. In the end she pleased Brahmā. Brahmā appeared before her and gave her a great vara (boon): all the 3.5 crore tīrthas in the three worlds would live within her body. In this way she became a walking form of all sacred waters.

Dhūtapāpā and Dharma

Dharma, the deva who stands for righteousness, was himself wandering through the holy ground of Kāśī in the form of a river. Dharma met Dhūtapāpā in a way that she found improper. She gave him a śāpa (curse): “You shall become a river kept within Kāśī and go no farther.”

Dharma in turn gave Dhūtapāpā a śāpa: “You shall become a moonstone (candrakānta) that melts and flows only when touched by moonlight.”

So the river Dharmanāda, which flows only within the holy bounds of Kāśī, was born from this meeting. So was the short-lived stream Dhūtapāpā, which appears only at moonrise.

The river Kiraṇā

A third stream came from another source. Bhagavān Sūrya was doing tapas near Kāśī. He was filled with devotion, and drops of sweat fell from him. The sweat of Bhagavān Sūrya, made holy by his tapas, became the sacred stream Kiraṇā. It carries the warmth and the cleansing light of Bhagavān Sūrya himself.

Bhāgīrathī comes with Yamunā and Sarasvatī

Bhāgīrathī is the Gaṅgā of svarga (heaven), brought to earth by the tapas of Bhagīratha. When she entered Kāśī, she brought two unseen companions with her, Yamunā and Sarasvatī. They travel hidden within the Gaṅgā wherever she flows near sacred tīrthas.

At Kāśī these three joined Dharmanāda and Kiraṇā. Dhūtapāpā, who is seen at her own times, joined them too. In this way the meeting of five rivers, Pañcanada, was formed.

Names in the four yugas

Pañcanada has a different name in each of the four yugas. Each name shows the chief mark of that age:

• In Kṛta it is called Dharmanāda (the river of Dharma).
• In Tretā it is Dhūtapāpaka (the shaker-off of pāpa).
• In Dvāpara it is Bindu (the drop of divine grace).
• In Kali it is known as Pañcanada.

The fruit of bathing and its greatness

One bath at Pañcanada gives the same puṇya (merit) as a month of bathing at Prayāga in Māgha. The pitṛs (ancestors) have said in their gāthā (sacred verse) that those of their children who bathe at Pañcanada free them from all unhappy states.

The Kāśī Khaṇḍa says that the month of Kārttika is especially auspicious for bathing at Pañcanada. It says that one dip in its waters removes all the pāpa gathered across many births.

Sources

• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Uttarārdha, Chapter 59