The Sannihita Sarovara is the primordial sacred lake at the heart of Kurukshetra, the Dharmakshetra of Bhāratavarsha. It is also called Sānnihita Saras, Sānnihitya Tīrtha and Sthāṇu-tīrtha. The Saro Māhātmya of the Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa calls it the best of all tīrthas. In it stands the Sthāṇu-liṅga, the first liṅga of Bhagavān Śiva, set up here before the start of the present cycle of yugas. Beside it grows the Sthāṇuvaṭa, the great banyan tree that rose from the spot where the first brahmāṇḍa rested on the waters of pralaya.

Every tīrtha in the universe meets at the Sannihita Sarovara at noon each day. Its waters free everyone who touches them, whether they know what they are doing or not.

Where it lies

The Sannihita Sarovara lies inside Kurukshetra, between the rivers Sarasvatī and Dṛshadvatī. Chapter 1 of the Saro Māhātmya sets out the sacred land. The region called Brahmāvedi stretches from the Sarasvatī to the Dṛshadvatī. Within it lies Rāmahrada, the five lakes of Paraśurāma. Kurukshetra itself is half a yojana across. The Sannihita Sarovara is the centre of this whole sacred field.

Near the lake are:

The Sthāṇuvaṭa, the sacred banyan, at its centre.
The Sthāṇu-liṅga, standing upright in its waters.
The northern bank of the Sarasvatī, flowing close by.
Tīrthas in the four directions: Śukra Tīrtha in the north, Soma Tīrtha in the east, Daksha Tīrtha in the south and Skanda Tīrtha in the west.

(Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 1 and 25)

The origin of the Sthāṇuvaṭa

Chapter 21 tells of the Sthāṇuvaṭa’s beginning. In the mahāpralaya, the great dissolution when all creation went back to its source, only Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa remained, resting on the first waters. A brahmāṇḍa (cosmic egg) formed in those waters. The place where this brahmāṇḍa rested and floated on the waters of pralaya became, when the next creation began, the root of the Sthāṇuvaṭa. (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 21)

How the Sthāṇu-liṅga was set up

The Saro Māhātmya tells of it in Chapters 23 and 28.

Chapter 23: the Dārukāvana account

The ṛshis of Devadāruvana, in anger, cut off the liṅga of Bhagavān Śiva, and chaos spread through the worlds. Bhagavān Śiva took the form of a great elephant and carried the liṅga with his trunk from Devadāruvana to the Sannihita Sarovara. When the liṅga reached the lake, Bhagavān Śiva merged into it, and it stood upright in the water. From then on it was the Sthāṇu-liṅga.

Chapter 28: Brahmā’s account

At Brahmā’s request, Bhagavān Śiva did tapas in the waters of the Sannihita for a very long time, while Brahmā waited. Creation unfolded, and Brahmā gave the first beings their food. Then Bhagavān Śiva rose from the waters, full of the fierce power of his tapas. In that fierceness he pulled out his own liṅga and threw it into the middle of the lake. The liṅga stood perfectly upright in the water and became the Sthāṇu-liṅga.

Whoever sees the Sthāṇu-liṅga even once has all kilvishas (impurities) destroyed. That person gains priceless moksha (liberation), from which there is no return. (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 23 and 28)

Bhagavān Śiva’s words: all tīrthas meet at noon

In Chapter 24 Bhagavān Śiva himself tells the gathered devas and ṛshis how great the lake is. He says: “This Sānnihita Saras is the best of all tīrthas. Because I live here, it gives mukti (release). Here a sight of my liṅga gives the highest state (paramapada) to brāhmaṇas, kshatriyas and vaiśyas alike. Each day at madhyāhna (noon), all the tīrthas of the ocean, the rivers and the lakes of the whole world come together here, at this one Sthāṇu-tīrtha.” (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 24)

The dust of Sannihita

After Indra covered the lake with dust for seven days (told below), the ṛshis who came to the place used to rub its sacred dust on their bodies, with respect. Even this brought purity and led in the end to brahma-pada. The text adds: “Even the grains of dust carried by the wind through Kurukshetra can purify even those weighed down by pāpa by their touch.” (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 24)

Indra covers the liṅga with dust

The power of seeing the Sthāṇu-liṅga began to send people in great crowds to svarga (heaven). So many went that the higher worlds became too full. The frightened devas went to Brahmā and complained. On Brahmā’s advice, Indra rained dust on the lake for seven days and buried the liṅga completely under dust and earth.

Mahādeva kept the liṅga safe by lifting it up with his own hand. Brahmā then came and set up the original ādi-liṅga, and placed a stone liṅga (śilā-liṅga) on it. The stone liṅga touched the ādi-liṅga and so gained the same power. Touching the stone liṅga now gave people the paramapada.

Seeing this, Brahmā again acted to hold back the flow of people to svarga. He placed one liṅga on another until there was a stack of seven liṅgas (saptaliṅgas). The dust and earth above these seven liṅgas now holds so much holiness that those who rub it on their bodies gain mukti without visiting any other tīrtha. (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 24)

Names in each yuga

The lake has a different name in each yuga:

Kṛtayuga: Sānnihitya Tīrtha.
Tretāyuga: Vāyu-tīrtha.
The change from Dvāpara to Kali: Rudra-hrada.

The dark fourteenth day of Caitra (Caitra-kṛshṇa-caturdaśī) is an especially good day to bathe in the Rudra-hrada. Those who bathe on this day attain the paramapada. (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 24)

The four Brahmā liṅgas

After Bhagavān Śiva’s grace freed him from pāpa (sin), Brahmā set up four sacred liṅgas at four places around the lake. Each is for a different yuga:

Brahmasaras, beside Hari (Vishṇu): for worship in Kṛtayuga.
Brahmasadana, in Brahmā’s own āśrama: for worship in Tretāyuga.
The eastern liṅga, to the east of Brahmasadana: for worship in Dvāparayuga.
The Brahma-liṅga on the bank of the Sarasvatī: for worship in Kaliyuga. This is the Caturmukha-liṅga.

Brahmā himself set up the Caturmukha-liṅga on the northern bank of the Sarasvatī at the very start of creation. It is the oldest of the four. A namaskāra made to this liṅga with faith (śraddhā) destroys all pāpa. (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 28)

Special observances

Kṛshṇapaksha-ashṭamī (the dark eighth day of any month): those who stay here on this day with a pure mind are freed from every pāpa, including parādāragamana (going to another man’s wife) and gurutalpagata (violating the teacher’s bed).
Bathing at noon (madhyāhna): the bather touches all tīrthas at once and gains the highest phala (reward).
Tarpaṇa with black sesame (kṛshṇa-tila-tarpaṇa), made to the west of the liṅga: it gives the ancestors joy in svarga for the length of three yugas.
Śrāddha at the Vaṭa-mūla (the foot of the banyan): the ancestors of the giver are pleased and grant fruits that are hard to win. The phala lasts as long as the liṅga stands in that place, until the end of a manvantara.
Pradakshiṇā of the Sthāṇuvaṭa (walking round it): it gives the puṇya (merit) of walking round the earth of seven dvīpas.

(Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 24, 25 and 28)

Freedom without intent

The Saro Māhātmya says: “Those who enter the Sthāṇu-tīrtha, knowingly or not, man or woman, have all their pāpa destroyed.” To touch the water is enough, whether the person knows or means it. The account of Vena shows this. Water shaken from the body of a dog that had bathed here was enough to purify Vena, who was weighed down with pāpa. (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 24 and 26)

Sources

Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 1, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 and 28