Tāmraparṇī
Tāmraparṇī · tāmra-parṇī, “she of the copper-coloured leaves”
The Tāmraparṇī is a holy river of the Draviḍa country in the south of Bhārata, one of the three rivers on the Malaya mountain. The Bhāgavata Purāṇa names her among the great rivers of Bhārata that purify one merely by the remembrance of their names. On the Malaya the Pāṇḍya king Malayadhvaja bathed every day in her waters and in those of the Candravaśā and the Vaṭodakā, and so removed the impurity of both body and mind; Balarāma bathed in her on his tīrthayātrā; and the yogī Karabhājana counts her first among the six rivers of the Draviḍa country whose water purifies the heart and brings bhakti for Vāsudeva.
Among the great rivers of Bhārata
Śrī Śuka Maharshi, telling Parīkshit Mahārāja of Bhārata varsha, says that from the middle parts of its mountains arise countless nadas and nadīs, and names forty-two great rivers, beginning: Candravaśā, Tāmraparṇī, Avaṭodā, Kṛtamālā, Vaihāyasī, Kāverī, Veṇī, Payasvinī, Śarkarāvartā and Tuṅgabhadrā, and going on through the Godāvarī, the Narmadā, the Sindhu, the Yamunā and the Sarasvatī to the Viśvā. The people of Bhārata bathe in the waters of these rivers, which purify one merely by the remembrance of their names.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 19
On the Malaya mountain
In the account of Purañjana that Nārada Maharshi tells King Prācīnabarhis, the rājarshi Malayadhvaja, king of the Pāṇḍya country, divided his kingdom among his sons and, wishing to worship Śrī Kṛshṇa, went to the Malaya mountain, which belonged to his line. The Vidarbha princess, his young wife, gave up her home, her sons and her enjoyments and went with him, as the moonlit night stays with the moon.
There are three rivers there: the Candravaśā, the Tāmraparṇī and the Vaṭodakā. Malayadhvaja bathed every day in their sacred waters, and so removed not only the impurity of the body but also the impurity of the mind. Living on bulbs, grains, roots, fruits, flowers and leaves, and at times on water alone, he performed a tapas that wasted the body, and, seeing Īśvara in everything, he conquered with an even mind cold and heat, wind and rain, hunger and thirst, pleasure and pain.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 28
Balarāma bathes in the Tāmraparṇī
After Balarāma slew the asura Balvala at Naimisha, he set out on a tīrthayātrā, which Śuka tells Parīkshit place by place. In the south he went to Ṛshabha parvata, to Dakshiṇa Mathurā and to Rāma-setu in the sea, where he gave ten thousand milch cows to brāhmaṇas. Then he bathed in the rivers Kṛtamālā and Tāmraparṇī and went to the kula-parvata Malaya, where he bowed to Agastya Maharshi, who lives there, and the maharshi blessed him and gave him leave. From there he went to the southern sea and had darśana of Durgā Devī named Kanyākumārī.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 79
The rivers of the Draviḍa country
The yogī Karabhājana, one of the nine Yogendras, teaching King Nimi how Śrī Hari is worshipped in the four yugas, says that the people of the Kṛta, Tretā and Dvāpara yugas wish to be born in the Kali yuga, for in it bhaktas whose highest goal is Nārāyaṇa alone are born here and there, and very many of them in the Draviḍa country. In the Draviḍa country are these rivers, in order: the Tāmraparṇī, the Kṛtamālā, the Payasvinī, the supremely pure Kāverī, the Pratīcī and the Mahānadī.
The phala. “O Mahārāja, those people who drink the water of these rivers mostly have their inner faculty purified, and bhakti for Vāsudeva arises in them.”
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 5
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 28; Skandha 5, Chapter 19; Skandha 10, Chapter 79; Skandha 11, Chapter 5