Sārasvata Tīrtha is a tīrtha (sacred bathing place) on the banks of the river Sarasvatī. It is named after the ṛshi Sārasvata, the son of Dadhīca Ṛshi and of the river-devī Sarasvatī herself.

This is the place where the Sarasvatī bore Dadhīca’s son and presented him to his father. It is also the place where Sārasvata kept up his Vedic recitation through a twelve-year drought, and later gave the Vedic tradition back to sixty thousand ṛshis. Bhagavān Balarāma bathed here during his tīrtha-yātrā (pilgrimage).

Sārasvata and the Vedas

The Sārasvata Tīrtha is one of the richest sites in Balarāma’s pilgrimage. Here Balarāma heard the full account of Sārasvata. It tells how the son of Dadhīca Ṛshi was born of the river-devī Sarasvatī herself, and how that son alone preserved the whole Vedic tradition during a terrible twelve-year drought.

Dadhīca’s gift

The tīrtha is also linked with the wider account of Dadhīca’s sacrifice. He was willing to give his bones to Indra so that weapons could be made for the devas. That gift destroyed ninety-nine thousand daitya and dānava warriors and kept the order of dharma safe.

Balarāma at the tīrtha

Balarāma bathed here and gave dāna (gifts) to the ṛshis who had gathered. He then went on to the Vṛddha Kanyā Tīrtha.

Sources

Mahābhārata, Śalya Parva, Chapter 51