Sahyādri
Sahyādri · sahya-adri, “the Sahya mountain”
Sahyādri, the Sahya mountain, also called Sahyagiri, is one of the seven kula-parvatas (chief mountain ranges) of Kumāra-dvīpa, the land of Bhārata. The Vāmana Purāṇa calls the fourteen great rivers that rise from it, among them the Godāvarī, the Kṛshṇā, the Tuṅgabhadrā and the Kāverī, the daughters of the Sahyādri. On his tīrtha-yātrā (journey to the holy places) the great devotee Prahlāda came to Sahyādri, bathed in the Mahodakī and had darśana of Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa there. And Bhagavān Vāmana himself told Bharadvāja Ṛshi that at Sahyagiri he is present as Vaikuṇṭha.
A kula-parvata of Bhārata
The ṛshis of a forest in Magadha told the rākshasa king Sukeśī of Jambūdvīpa and its nine varshas, and of Bhārata-varsha with its nine dvīpas. Of these, they said, the one “where we are” is Kumāra-dvīpa. In Kumāra-dvīpa stand seven kula-parvatas: Mahendra, Malaya, Sahya, Śuktimān, Ṛksha, Vindhya and Pāriyātra. Besides these chief mountains there are other lovely mountains of great extent, in hundreds and thousands.
Then the ṛshis told of the best rivers, which give water to these lands, each group under the mountain it rises from. Fourteen great rivers (mahā-taraṅgiṇī) are the daughters of the Sahyādri: the Godāvarī, Bhīmarathī, Kṛshṇā, Veṇā, Sarasvatī, Tuṅgabhadrā, Suprayogā, Vāhyā, Kāverī, Dugdhodā, Naḷinī, Revā, Vārisenā and Kalasvanā. All these rivers, the ṛshis said, are supremely pure, and they are the wives of the ocean.
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 13
Prahlāda at Sahyādri
Pulastya Maharshi told Nārada the tīrtha-yātrā of Prahlāda, lord of the dānavas and a great bhāgavata. Prahlāda went south to Mahendra, where he had darśana of Ardhanārīśvara, then to northern Mahendra, where he bathed in the Soma tīrtha, and from there he came to Sahyādri. There he dipped in the Mahodakī, had darśana of Nārāyaṇa with bhakti, and satisfied the devas and the pitṛs with offerings. From Sahyādri he went on to Mount Pāriyātra.
At the close of the yātrā Pulastya Maharshi said: whoever sings this puṇya-giving account of Prahlāda’s tīrtha-yātrā, hears it, or passes it on to others, is freed from all pāpa (sin).
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 57
Bhagavān Vāmana as Vaikuṇṭha
When Bhagavān Vāmana had received his upanayana and mastered the Vedas, he asked Bharadvāja Ṛshi for leave to go to Kurukshetra, where Bali was performing the aśvamedha yajña. Bali could perform that yajña on earth, he said, only by the power of Vāmana’s own tejas-aṃśas, the portions of his splendour, and by gaining their presence; all of them could be seen there. Bharadvāja asked him in which places those aṃśas abide. Then Bhagavān Vāmana named the holy places in which he, the many-formed, dwells, and among them he said that at Sahyagiri he is manifest as Vaikuṇṭha.
Of all these places he said that they are sanātana (eternal), purātana (ancient) and pavitra (holy); they give dharma, they are full of tejas (divine radiance), they destroy pāpa, and they are always to be praised. Devas, humans and sādhyas who practise darśana (seeing), sparśana (touching), kīrtana (praising) and smaraṇa (remembering) of these forms surely gain all four purushārthas: dharma, artha, kāma and moksha. “This is certain,” said Bhagavān Vāmana.
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 62–63
Sources
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 13, 57, 62–63