Ghoṇa Tīrtha, also called Phaṇa Tīrtha and Tumburu Tīrtha, is one of the six supremely sacred tīrthas (pilgrimage places) on the mountain Veṅkaṭādri that give moksha (liberation). It lies beside a fig tree on the mountain.

On Phālguṇa paurṇamī (full-moon day), when the Sun enters Mīna (Pisces) and the nakshatra is Uttarāphalgunī, all the tīrthas of the three worlds come here. A bath at that time gives the puṇya (merit) of ten thousand tīrthas together. The place is also the setting of the account of the gandharva Tumburu, his wife, and the ṛshi Agastya.

The tīrtha and its names

Ghoṇa Tīrtha is also known as Phaṇa Tīrtha and Tumburu Tīrtha. Beside it stands a fig tree (in Telugu rāvi-chettu, in Sanskrit aśvattha). The wife of the gandharva lived as a frog in its hollow for ten thousand years.

The tīrtha lies within the greater sacred region of Veṅkaṭādri. Its waters can purify the tīrthas themselves. All the great rivers, the Gaṅgā and others, come to Ghoṇa Tīrtha to wash away the pāpa (sin) of the people who bathed in them. The Skanda Purāṇa says that Nārada first taught this to the rivers and sent them to Veṅkaṭādri. (Veṅkaṭācala Māhātmya, Chapter 26)

Tumburu and his wife

Tumburu was a great gandharva, learned in all the arts. He spoke to his wife about keeping Māgha-snāna. This is the practice of bathing in a tīrtha before sunrise every day in the month of Māgha, together with pūjā of Bhagavān Vishṇu. The rite is as follows:

Make the bank of the tīrtha clean with cow dung.
Draw auspicious muggulu (threshold patterns).
Light a dīpa (lamp).
Cook pure food for Bhagavān Vishṇu.
Walk around the image, bow down, and say the names Kṛshṇa, Vishṇu, Mukunda, Nārāyaṇa and Janārdana.
Do the pūjā with śraddhā (faith) through the whole month.

Tumburu said: “By this practice, moksha is certain. Keep it with me.”

His wife refused. She said that Māgha was cold and she could not bathe before sunrise. She spoke unkind and dismissive words. Tumburu was calm by nature, but he remembered a rule of dharma. A son who turns away from dharma, a wife who speaks unkindly, and a king who does not read the Vedas must all be corrected by śāpa (a curse). So he spoke the śāpa: “Go and live as a frog in the hollow of the fig tree near Ghoṇa Tīrtha on the blessed Veṅkaṭādri.”

She touched his feet and begged. He then named the end of the śāpa. When Agastya comes to Veṅkaṭādri on a paurṇamī, sits under that same fig tree, and tells his disciples the glory of Ghoṇa Tīrtha, the frog will hear the glory of the tīrtha and be freed. (Veṅkaṭācala Māhātmya, Chapter 26)

Agastya comes and the frog is freed

The gandharva’s wife lived as a frog in the hollow of the fig tree beside Ghoṇa Tīrtha for ten thousand years. Then Agastya came to Veṅkaṭādri with his disciples. He took these steps in order:

He bathed in Svāmi Pushkariṇī.
He bowed to Varāha Svāmī on its southern bank.
He went to the temple of Bhagavān Veṅkaṭeśa and bowed there.
He went on to Ghoṇa Tīrtha and bathed.
He sat in the shade of the fig tree with his disciples and began to tell the māhātmya (glory) of Ghoṇa Tīrtha.

The frog in the hollow heard the glory of the tīrtha in whose waters she had been living. Through the power of this hearing, and the puṇya of ten thousand years near the tīrtha, she was freed at once from the frog’s body. She took back her beautiful form as a gandharva woman and fell at Agastya’s feet. He blessed her, and she was joined again with her husband Tumburu.

Agastya also taught her the pativratā-dharma (the dharma of a devoted wife). A wife who disobeys her husband’s righteous words falls into a breach of dharma. A wife who serves her husband as Vishṇu himself reaches moksha. (Veṅkaṭācala Māhātmya, Chapter 26)

Pāpas removed by Ghoṇa Tīrtha

The chapter lists many pāpas, both mahāpātakas (the great pāpas) and upapātakas (the lesser pāpas), that are destroyed by bathing in Ghoṇa Tīrtha. Those who refuse to bathe here are called equal to a brahmahatyā doer, a brahmasūtaka, a thief, a surāpāyin (one who drinks wine), and so on, according to the wrong done. Bathing here removes these pāpas:

Betrayal of trust (viśvāsaghāta)
Killing a hero (vīra-hatyā)
Killing children (bāla-hatyā)
Ingratitude (kṛtaghnatā)
False witness and false praise
Wrong company and wrong conduct in marriage
Neglect of the agni (sacred fire), leaving one’s wife, and harming one’s relatives
Splitting a community, and the corruption of a village leader
Pāpas done knowingly and unknowingly (jānata and ajānata pāpas)

(Veṅkaṭācala Māhātmya, Chapter 26)

The best time to bathe

Chapter 27 says that all the tīrthas of the three worlds come to Ghoṇa (Tumburu) Tīrtha at midday on Phālguṇa paurṇamī, when it falls with Mīna saṃkrānti (the Sun entering Pisces) and the Uttarāphalgunī nakshatra. A person who bathes here at that time gains the puṇya of ten thousand tīrthas.

On this occasion, mauñjī-bandhana (the sacred thread ceremony) and vivāha (marriage) done here, with fitting dakshiṇā (gifts to the priest), bring special puṇya. A person who bathes here on this day is not born again. (Veṅkaṭācala Māhātmya, Chapter 27)

Sources

Skanda Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Veṅkaṭācala Māhātmya, Chapter 26
Skanda Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Veṅkaṭācala Māhātmya, Chapter 27