Lakshmaṇa Tīrtha (Rāmasetu)

Lakshmaṇa Tīrtha is a sacred lake in the Setu-kshetra, on the Gandhamādana mountain. Here Lakshmaṇa set up a mahāliṅga known as Lakshmaṇeśvara.

The tīrtha is known for freeing people from brahmahatyā (the pāpa of killing a brāhmaṇa), for destroying all dāridrya (poverty), and for giving learning, long life (āyus) and good sons. Its great power is shown by the freeing of Balarāma from the brahmahatyā he took on at Naimishāraṇya, after a full year of tīrtha-yātrā had not made him fully pure.

Location and Lakshmaṇeśvara

Lakshmaṇa Tīrtha lies in the Setu-kshetra on the Gandhamādana mountain. Here Lakshmaṇa, the devoted younger brother of Bhagavān Rāma, set up a mahāliṅga known as Lakshmaṇeśvara (“Lakshmaṇa’s lord”). Those who bathe in the lake and have darśana of Lakshmaṇeśvara are freed from all dāridrya, from all disease, and from the bonds of saṃsāra.

Balarāma’s brahmahatyā

The great narrative of this tīrtha is about Balarāma, who is also called Baladeva, Halāyudha and Saṅkarshaṇa. He is the elder brother of Kṛshṇa and an avatāra of Śesha. When the Kurukshetra war was about to begin, Balarāma was equally close to the Kauravas and the Pāṇḍavas, through kinship and through teaching them. He did not want to take a side. He could not bear to see the ruin of both his dear students, Duryodhana and Arjuna. So he left on a tīrtha-yātrā to the sacred rivers of the west.

The killing at Naimishāraṇya

On his tīrtha-yātrā Balarāma came to the holy forest of Naimishāraṇya. A great gathering of ṛshis was holding a long yajña there. The ṛshis honoured Balarāma with great respect, rising and welcoming him. Only one did not: a Sūta who sat on a high seat (brahmāsana) that the ṛshis had given him for reciting the Purāṇas. This Sūta did not rise, did not join his hands in añjali, and did not offer namaskāra to Balarāma.

Balarāma saw this lack of courtesy and became angry. He said that a Sūta, who by birth belongs to a mixed varṇa, had no right to sit on the brahmāsana above the ṛshis and brāhmaṇas gathered there. In his anger he struck the Sūta on the head with his weapon and killed him.

At once the ṛshis cried out in distress. They told Balarāma that they themselves had given the Sūta that high seat and had given him a long life. So the Sūta had the ṛshis’ protection, and for this gathering he had the standing of a brāhmaṇa. Balarāma had killed one under brāhmaṇic protection, and brahmahatyā had come upon him. The ṛshis said that, for the good of the world (lokasaṅgrahaṇa), Balarāma should perform prāyaścitta (an act of atonement).

Balarāma accepted this with humility. By his yogic power he gave back the Sūta’s life-force (āyus, sattva and indriyabala) in the form of a son born from the Sūta’s body. In this way the line of those who recite the Purāṇas went on. He also promised to fulfil all the wishes of the ṛshis. The ṛshis then told him to destroy the rākshasa Balvala, who again and again spoiled their yajñas, and to make a year-long tīrtha-yātrā to all the sacred tīrthas of Bhāratavarsha.

The slaying of Balvala

Before he began the tīrtha-yātrā, Balarāma did what the ṛshis asked. During one of the yajña sessions, the rākshasa Balvala, the son of Ilvala, came down from the sky in his terrible form. He rained bones, ash, blood and foul matter on the sacred yajña. Balarāma called his weapons, the musala (pestle) and the plough-weapon. With the plough he dragged Balvala down from the sky. Then he struck him with the musala, broke his forehead, and killed him. The ṛshis rejoiced and put garlands of flowers on Balarāma.

The purification that was not complete

Balarāma then made a full year of tīrtha-yātrā to all the sacred rivers and tīrthas of Bhāratavarsha. At the end of the year, as he came back from the west, he saw a dark shadow following him. He also heard a voice from the sky, with no one speaking, saying that his brahmahatyā had not yet been fully destroyed.

Troubled, he went back to the ṛshis of Naimishāraṇya and told them what he had heard. The ṛshis agreed, and told him: “Go to Gandhamādana mountain in the Setu-kshetra of Rāmasetu. There is the Lakshmaṇa Tīrtha, which destroys brahmahatyā. Bathe there and your pāpa will be destroyed completely.”

Freedom at Lakshmaṇa Tīrtha

Balarāma went to the Setu-kshetra and bathed at Lakshmaṇa Tīrtha with full saṅkalpa (a solemn resolve). He gave dāna of cows, grain, land and wealth to brāhmaṇas. At that moment a divine voice, with no one speaking, said: “O Rāma, your brahmahatyā has been completely destroyed here. Go in peace to your city.”

Balarāma bowed down toward the voice and praised Lakshmaṇa Tīrtha. Then he went on with his tīrtha-yātrā and bathed at all the other tīrthas of the Setu-kshetra, including Dhanushkoṭi, and offered pūjā to Rāmanātha. After that he returned to his city of Dvārakā, with all his pāpa gone.

Phala

Lakshmaṇa Tīrtha destroys all pāpa, including brahmahatyā. Balarāma’s account shows that a full year of tīrtha-yātrā to all of Bhāratavarsha could not remove brahmahatyā, yet a single bath here removes it. The tīrtha also takes away dāridrya and disease. It gives good sons who are learned, long-lived (āyushmān) and full of good qualities (guṇavān). Bathing here and offering pūjā to Lakshmaṇeśvara leads to viśuddha-mukti (pure liberation). Those who chant mantras on its banks become masters of all the śāstras and the four Vedas.

Sources

• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa, Setu Māhātmya, Chapter 19