The Mahīsāgara Saṃgama is the sacred meeting of the river Mahī with the western sea (the Arabian Sea). It lies on the western coast of India, in what is now Gujarat. The Kaumārika Khaṇḍa declares it a supreme tīrtha. It gives the combined merit of bathing in every sacred river and tīrtha of the world: Vārāṇasī, Kurukshetra, Gaṅgā, Revā, Sarasvatī, Tāpī, Payoshṇī, Nirvindhyā, Candrabhāga, Irāvatī, Kāverī, Śarayū, Gaṇḍakī, Naimisha, Gayā, Godāvarī and hundreds of other rivers. This is because the Mahī itself was born from the gathered essence of the waters of all tīrthas.

A self-manifested (svayambhū) Mahākāla Liṅga stands at this place. Bhartṛyajña, the reborn Yājñavalkya, worshipped this Liṅga with steady śraddhā (faith). Little by little he wore away the kula-dosha (fault of birth) of his low birth. The Indradyumneśvara Liṅga, set up by King Indradyumna, also stands here. Bhagavān Śiva appeared at this tīrtha. He declared liberation for the five cursed beings and the state of jīvanmukta (one liberated while living) for Lomaśa and Mārkaṇḍeya.

Origin of the Mahī river

The birth of the Mahī is wonderful and holy. The great king Indradyumna performed a cosmic yajña so powerful that it heated the earth to a depth of two aṅgulas. As sap flows out of a tree heated by fire, the sacred waters of every direction flowed out of the body of the earth. This outpouring was the river Mahī. It is the very essence of all tīrtha waters, gathered together and given form. The Mahī therefore carries the holiness of twenty thousand six hundred yojanas of pilgrimage places.

The river rises in the Mālavā country in central India. It flows south and west until it meets the western sea. Both its banks are holy. At its meeting with the sea, the Mahīsāgara Saṃgama, a single bath gives the combined merit of all these tīrthas. (Chapter 13)

The supreme tīrtha

Saṃvarta Muni calls the Mahīsāgara Saṃgama the supreme tīrtha of liberation, the one place that gives the fruit of all tīrthas together. His words are clear: “Vārāṇasī, Kurukshetra, Gaṅgā, Revā, Sarasvatī, Tāpī, Payoshṇī, Nirvindhyā, Candrabhāga, Irāvatī, Kāverī, Śarayū, Gaṇḍakī, Naimisha, Gayā, Godāvarī, and many hundreds of other sacred rivers: the water of the Mahī carries the sacred essence of all of them. At its meeting with the western sea, one receives the combined merit.”

Saṃvarta himself had lived at the Mahīsāgara Saṃgama for many years. He left for Vārāṇasī to avoid Marutta. Even a yogī of his rank holds the Mahīsāgara to be a supreme tīrtha. The text also calls this place a guptakshetra, a hidden sacred land that ordinary pilgrims do not easily find. (Chapter 13)

The self-manifested Mahākāla Liṅga

At the Mahīsāgara Saṃgama there is a Śivaliṅga that appeared by itself (svayambhū). Human hands did not set it up. It was born of its own holy power. This is the Mahākāla Liṅga. Bhartṛyajña, who was the reborn Yājñavalkya, found this Liṅga and gave himself to its worship with daily practice and śraddhā. Yājñavalkya had been cursed to a low birth for speaking harshly to a mongoose.

The teaching tied to this Liṅga is this: “One who worships the Mahākāla Liṅga with śraddhā, just as a snake sheds its old skin and comes out new, sheds all the doshas of a low birth, however many births they have gathered.” (Chapter 13)

Bhartṛyajña, devotee of the Mahākāla Liṅga

The best known human figure at the Mahīsāgara Saṃgama in the Kaumārika Khaṇḍa is Bhartṛyajña. He was born in a brāhmaṇa family of low standing (kulādhama) because of the mongoose-curse on Yājñavalkya. He was born remembering his past lives (jātishmara), so he understood his state and made his way to the hidden holy place. He worshipped the self-manifested Mahākāla Liṅga without a break. Through his devoted practice he slowly wore away the kula-dosha, “just as a snake sheds its skin”, as the text says.

Indradyumna, Mārkaṇḍeya and the four cursed animal-souls came to the Saṃgama, sent by Saṃvarta. Bhartṛyajña knew them to be divine beings and welcomed them. He then taught them the full tīrtha-māhātmya (the glory of the tīrtha) and the Śataraudrīya-liṅga-māhātmya (the glory of the Liṅga of the hundred Rudras). (Chapter 13)

The Indradyumneśvara Liṅga

Bhagavān Śiva appeared at the Mahīsāgara Saṃgama and gave liberation to the beings who had gathered. After this King Indradyumna set up a Śivaliṅga at the Saṃgama, the Indradyumneśvara. He gave it as a lasting offering to Bhagavān Śiva at the very tīrtha whose holy waters had come from the heat of his own yajña. He prayed, “May this Liṅga shine for ever, as long as Sūrya, Candra and Bhūmi last!”

Bhagavān Śiva answered, “Tathāstu” (so be it), and added, “Whoever worships this Indradyumneśvara Liṅga, set up by this king, again and again shall become my gaṇa and live in my loka.” (Chapter 13)

Liberation of five beings and the appearance of Bhagavān Śiva

Indradyumna, Mārkaṇḍeya, Lomaśa and the four cursed animal-souls worshipped the five liṅgas (pañca-liṅgas) at the Mahīsāgara Saṃgama for a long time, with Śiva-dhyāna (meditation on Bhagavān Śiva) and bhakti. Then Bhagavān Śiva himself appeared and said:

“O Baka (crane), Kūrma (turtle), Ulūka (owl), Gṛdha, and King Indradyumna, all of you shall reach sārūpya-mukti (liberation in the same form as me) and live in my loka. Lomaśa and Mārkaṇḍeya shall also become jīvanmuktas.”

The four animal-souls were given back their divine forms, and all of them reached śivagaṇatva (the state of a gaṇa of Bhagavān Śiva). Indradyumna reached the śivagaṇatva he had wished for. Lomaśa and Mārkaṇḍeya were declared jīvanmuktas, liberated while still living. (Chapter 13)

Devaśarman and Subhadra

The Mahīsāgara Saṃgama also appears in the account of Devaśarman, a brāhmaṇa who performed pitṛ-karma (rites for the ancestors) at the Gaṅgāsāgara Saṃgama. When he visited the pitṛ-loka (the world of the ancestors), he saw that the pitṛs of another muni, Subhadra, who offered tarpaṇa (water offerings) at the Mahīsāgara Saṃgama, were served far more richly and happily than his own.

This shocked him. The tarpaṇa at the Mahīsāgara carried more merit than the tarpaṇa at the Gaṅgāsāgara. So he travelled to the Mahīsāgara to make tarpaṇa there. In this way the account shows that for ancestral rites the Mahīsāgara Saṃgama is greater even than the Gaṅgāsāgara. (Chapter 9)

The five coastal tīrthas

Near the Mahīsāgara Saṃgama lie five holy coastal tīrthas: Kumāreśa, Stambheśvara, Barkaraśvara, Mahākāla and Siddheśa. Together they too are declared to give the combined merit of all tīrthas. The Kaumārika Khaṇḍa opens with Arjuna’s freeing of five apsarās who had been cursed to live as crocodiles in these tīrthas, during his twelve-year tīrtha-yātrā. (Chapter 1)

Sources

Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kaumārika Khaṇḍa, Chapters 1–13
Chapter 1: the five coastal tīrthas and the freeing of the five apsarās
Chapter 9: Devaśarman and Subhadra
Chapter 13: the birth of the Mahī, the supreme tīrtha, the Mahākāla Liṅga, Bhartṛyajña, the Indradyumneśvara Liṅga and the appearance of Bhagavān Śiva