Pippalā (Sister of Viśvāvasu)

Pippalā

Pippala has other meanings too: see all meanings of Pippala.

Pippalā was the sister of Viśvāvasu, a chief of the gandharvas. At the satra (long yajña) of the ṛshis on the bank of the Gautamī she laughed at the feeble, emaciated elders and recited the yajña calls with the wrong svara (accent), and by the ṛshis’ śāpa (curse) she became the river Yakshiṇī. Her brother Viśvāvasu freed her by making the river join the Gautamī, and the meeting place became the tīrtha Yakshiṇī-saṅgama. She is not Pippala, the son of Kaśyapa.

The śāpa of the ṛshis

Brahmā tells Nārada of the tīrtha Yakshiṇī-saṅgama. There was a sister of Viśvāvasu named Pippalā. She went to the satra of the ṛshis who lived on the bank of the Gautamī. Seeing the ṛshis there feeble and emaciated, she laughed with great arrogance; she dared to laugh at her elders. Then she repeated the mantras firmly, “Let there be Vaushaṭ. Let there be Śraushaṭ,” but with a wrong svara. Therefore the ṛshis pronounced a śāpa on her: “Become a flowing river.” She became the river famous as Yakshiṇī.

Freed by Viśvāvasu

Then Viśvāvasu honoured the ṛshis and the three-eyed Bhagavān Śiva. By making the river join the Gautamī, he freed his sister from the śāpa. From then on that tīrtha is remembered as Yakshiṇī-saṅgama. The place where Śambhu, together with Śivā, was pleased with Viśvāvasu is the greatest tīrtha of Bhagavān Śiva, well known also as Durgātīrtha. Yaksheśvara is the deity there.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 62

Sources

• Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 62