Śambhutīrtha
Śambhutīrtha · śambhu-tīrtha, “the tīrtha of Śambhu”
Śambhutīrtha is a tīrtha of the Narmadā in holy Jambūmārga, where the marks of the four hooves of Devī Umā, in the form of a cow, lie on a rock. Whoever touches the Śivaliṅga of Śambhutīrtha is freed from go-hatyā, the pāpa of killing a cow.
The līlā on the mountain
Bhagavān Śrī Kṛshṇa, telling Yudhishṭhira the rite of the Govatsa Dvādaśī, tells how in Satya Yuga crores of munis were performing tapas in holy Jambūmārga, on the peak named Ṭaṇṭāvi of the mountain Nāmavratadharā, wishing for the darśana of Bhagavān Śaṅkara. Bhagavatī Umā took the form of a cow with her calf, white and endowed with every good mark, and Bhagavān Śaṅkara, in the form of an old vipra, came grazing her to the āśrama. He gave the cow to the kulapati Bhṛgu to guard for two days, saying he would bathe and go to Jambūkshetra, and the munis vowed to protect her.
Bhagavān Śiva withdrew from sight, and after a short while appeared as a tiger and began to frighten the cow with her calf. The ṛshis, overcome by fear of the tiger, cried out and tried every means to drive it away. As the cow leapt and ran, in the līlā of her cow-form, the marks of her four hooves fell in the middle of a rock. In the sky the devas and kinnaras bowed in praise to the tiger, who was Bhagavān Śaṅkara, and to the cow with calf, who was Mātā Pārvatī.
That mark on the rock is clearly visible to this day. It is an excellent tīrtha of the Narmadā.
Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 69
The phala
Whoever touches the Śivaliṅga of Śambhutīrtha here is freed from go-hatyā. By bathing at that mahātīrtha in Jambūmārga one is freed from brahmahatyā and other pāpas.
The munis, in anger, then rang a terrible-sounding bell obtained from Brahmā, and at its sound the tiger left the cow and her calf. The brāhmaṇas gave the place the name Ḍhuṇḍāgiri, and humans who have its darśana become Rudra-svarūpa themselves. Bhagavān Śaṅkara gave up the tiger form and granted darśana in his own form, mounted on the vṛshabha with Bhagavatī Umā at his left, and the brahmavādī ṛshis worshipped Umā Devī in the form of the cow with calf under the name Nandinī. From that day the Govatsa Dvādaśī vrata is kept.
Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 69
Sources
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 69