Kapālamocana Tīrtha (Kāśī)

Kapālamocana Tīrtha is a sacred place within Vārāṇasī (Kāśī). It is where the skull of Brahmā fell by itself from the palm of Bhagavān Śiva as he entered the city. This freed him from brahmahatyā, the pāpa of killing a brāhmaṇa. The name means “release of the skull”.

The event

Brahmā’s fifth head had spoken with pride and falsehood about Śiva. Śiva cut that head off. Brahmahatyā then seized him. The skull of Brahmā stuck to his hand and could not be taken off. The pāpa took a terrifying form and clung to Śiva like a shadow.

Śiva carried Brahmā’s skull in his palm as a kapāla (a begging bowl), and he became the Kapālī, the skull-bearer. He wandered through every great tīrtha of Bhārata: holy confluences, rivers and forest āśramas. He bathed in each one with full ritual purity. But the brahmahatyā would not leave him. No tīrtha had the power to dissolve this pāpa. (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 3)

Bhagavān Vishṇu’s direction

Bhagavān Vishṇu came to Śiva as he wandered and explained what was needed. This was the pāpa of killing the creator himself. Only one tīrtha could dissolve what no other could: Vārāṇasī, Śiva’s own sacred domain.

Only in the Avimukta kshetra could Brahmā’s skull fall away of itself. Avimukta is the never-forsaken field, where Śiva always dwells as Kāśīviśvanātha. (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 3)

The release of the skull

Śiva followed Bhagavān Vishṇu’s guidance and entered Vārāṇasī. The moment he crossed into the sacred bounds of the city, Brahmā’s skull fell from his palm of itself. No other rite or effort was needed. The brahmahatyā dissolved.

The spot where the skull fell and was released became holy as Kapālamocana Tīrtha, the tīrtha of the release of the skull. (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 3)

More about Vārāṇasī in the Vāmana Purāṇa

The Vāmana Purāṇa also says, in Chapter 16, that Vārāṇasī is the place where Śiva whispers the tāraka mantra into the ears of the dying. In the same chapter, Lolārka Tīrtha is connected with Vārāṇasī, in the account of Bhagavān Sūrya being restored by Śiva.

Sources

• Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 2 and 3
• Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 16