Brahmatīrtha (by Gotīrtha)

Brahmatīrtha · brahma-tīrtha, “the tīrtha of Brahmā”

Brāhma-tīrtha has other meanings too: see all meanings of Brāhma-tīrtha. Brahma has other meanings too: see all meanings of Brahma.

Brahmatīrtha is a tīrtha of the Gautamī Gaṅgā in the Daṇḍaka forest, named together with Gotīrtha, near the island of the cows in the middle of the river. Brahmā tells Nārada that one who bathes there with self-control, bows to Brahmā and goes round the island in pradakshiṇa gains the fruit of going round the whole earth of seven dvīpas.

The account of the place

Brahmā tells Nārada of the divine dog Saramā, who kept watch over the cows of the devas and the animals set apart for their yajñas. The rākshasas tempted her with pleasing words and gifts and carried the cows away. When Bṛhaspati saw her fault, Indra pronounced a śāpa that she be born a dog in the mortal world, and asked Bhagavān Vishṇu to bring back the cows. Bhagavān Vishṇu took up his divine bow Śārṅga, slew the daityas, dānavas and rākshasas in the Daṇḍaka forest, followed those who fled south on his divine vāhana Garuḍa, and slew them on the northern bank of the Gaṅgā. The place where the cows were recovered is Bāṇatīrtha, also known as Vaishṇavatīrtha and Gotīrtha.

The cows fled, and the devas herded them together on the Gaṅgā. In the middle of the river the devas had an island made as a resting place for the cows, and with those cows they performed their yajña. That island is called Yajñatīrtha, the Devayajana, the giver of all cherished desires. Saramā’s two four-eyed sons, the favourites of Yama, told Yama of their mother’s śāpa. At Sūrya‘s word Yama bathed in the Gautamī and, with the dogs, propitiated Sūrya and Brahmā on the southern bank, and by himself Īśāna and Vishṇu on the northern bank, and they granted the vara that removed Saramā’s śāpa. Yama asked that those who bathe in these tīrthas gain their splendid desires, for their own good and the good of others.

The rite and its phala

  • One who, with self-control and holy observances, bathes in Gotīrtha or Brahmatīrtha, bows to Brahmā and goes round the island in pradakshiṇa gains a fruit equal to going round the whole earth of seven dvīpas, with all the treasures it holds.
  • One who gives even a little to a brāhmaṇa there, and offers homa with anything in the sacred fire after reaching the Devayajana, gains in abundance the fruit of the aśvamedha and other yajñas.
  • One who recites the Gāyatrī, mother of the Vedas, even once there gains the fruit of studying all the Vedas.
  • One who does all these holy rites without desire becomes fit for moksha.

Phalaśruti

Brahmā tells Nārada that there are eight thousand and three such tīrthas here, and bath and dāna in them give everlasting puṇya. Remembering them destroys the pāpas of many births; hearing their glory brings moksha together with one’s pitṛs; reading their account frees one with all one’s family. One who bathes there, gives dāna with a controlled mind, offers piṇḍas and bows to these devas gains wealth, grain, fame, valour, long life, health, sons, grandsons and a beloved wife, is never parted from his kin, raises even pitṛs who are in naraka, and, remembering Vishṇu and Śiva at the time of death, attains moksha.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 61

Sources

  • Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 61