Kakshīvān

Kakshīvān

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

Kakshīvān is the father of two sons, Pṛthuśravas, his favourite, and a younger son, whose account gave the Ṛṇamocana tīrtha on the Gautamī its name.

His sons at Ṛṇamocana

Brahmā tells Nārada that Kakshīvān had a favourite son named Pṛthuśravas, who out of vairāgya, detachment, did not marry or keep the household fires. His younger brother was able, but for fear of the pāpa of marrying before his elder brother he too did not marry. The pitṛs spoke to the two sons of Kakshīvān: “Let the marriage be performed, to remove the threefold ṛṇa (debt).” The elder asked what the debt was, and by whom it was incurred; the younger said it was not proper for him to marry while he had an elder brother. Then the pitṛs said: “O sons of Kakshīvān, both of you go to the holy Gautamī and bathe there and offer tarpaṇa with śraddhā. The Gautamī gives all cherished things when she is seen, meditated upon or bathed in, with no restriction of place, time or varṇa. The elder will be freed from the pāpa of debt, and the younger will not incur the pāpa of marrying before the elder.” Pṛthuśravas bathed and offered tarpaṇa and was freed of his debt to the pitṛs, and from then on that tīrtha is called Ṛṇamocana. By bathing or giving dāna there, a debtor becomes free of all debts, those spoken of in the Vedas and the Smṛtis and the ordinary debts he has incurred.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 29

Sources

• Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 29