Śatadru
Śatadru
The Śatadru, also called the Śatadrū, is a holy river of Bhārata that rises from the foot-lands of Himavat. The Vāmana Purāṇa names her among the twenty-six rivers of Himavat that are supremely pure, the wives of the ocean. She is the first river on the journey of the brāhmaṇas who left Kurujāṅgala and went north when Bali came to Kurukshetra to perform a yajña: they bathed in the Śatadru and went on to the Vipāśā.
Among the rivers of Bhārata
When the rākshasa king Sukeśī asked the maharshis about Jambūdvīpa, they told him of Kumāra-dvīpa, the land of Bhārata, its seven kula-parvatas (chief mountain ranges) and the rivers that give water to its lands. Twenty-six rivers rise from the foot-lands of Himavat, and the Śatadru is the fifth of them: Sarasvatī, Pañcarūpā, Kālindī, Hiraṇvatī, Śatadru, Candrikā, Nīlā, Vitastā, Airāvatī, Kuhū, Madhurā, Hārarāvī, Uśīrā, Dhātukī, Rasā, Gomatī, Dhūtapāpā, Bāhudā, Dṛshadvatī, Niścirā, Gaṇḍakī, Citrā, Kauśikī, Vadūsarā, Sarayū and Lauhitya. All these rivers, the ṛshis said, are supremely pure, and they are the wives of the ocean.
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 13
The brāhmaṇas’ journey north
After Prahlāda had given Bali good counsel and gone away on his tīrtha-yātrā (journey to the holy places), Bali, the son of Virocana, came to Kurukshetra to perform a yajña. In that great dharma-kshetra Śukrācārya invited only the brāhmaṇas of his own Bhṛgu line. Hearing that the Bhārgavas had been called to the yajña, the brāhmaṇas living there of the Ātreya and Gautama gotras, and the Kauśika and Āṅgirasa brāhmaṇas, left Kurujāṅgala and went north, in the direction of the river Śatadrū.
They bathed in the Śatadru and went on to the river Vipāśā. Finding no contentment even there, they bathed in the Vipāśā, worshipped the pitṛs and went on. They came to the holy Kiraṇā, which flowed from the rays of Sūrya, and all the maharshis bathed in the Airāvatī, whose waters are holy. From there they went to the Īśvarī, the Devikā and the Payoshṇī.
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 62
Sources
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 13 and 62