Nandinī-saṅgama
Nandinī-saṅgama · nandinī-saṅgama, “the confluence of the Nandinī”
Siddheśvara has other meanings too: see all meanings of Siddheśvara.
Nandinī-saṅgama is the confluence (saṅgama) where the river Ānandā, also called Nandinī, “the river of joy”, meets the Gaṅgā, the Gautamī, on its southern bank. The river arose from the tears of joy of Agni and Dharma when Bhagavān Vishṇu brought back Suvarṇā, the daughter of Agni, from the netherworlds. Bhagavān Śiva is present at the confluence, and Suvarṇā herself is manifestly present there even today, granting the desires of her devotees. Brahmā tells Nārada of it in the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa, naming it with Tapovana, Siddheśvara and Śārdūla as the very holy tīrthas of the southern bank. Merely by listening to the account of these tīrthas one is rid of all pāpa (sin).
How the river of joy arose
Agni, the carrier of the oblations to the devas, had as his wife Svāhā, the daughter of Daksha. When she performed tapas for a son, Agni told her that children would be born to her. In the time of the terror of the asura Tāraka, the devas sent Agni to Bhagavān Śiva, and Agni went in the form of a parrot. Bhagavān Śiva knew him at once, smiled, and placed his own tejas (divine radiance) in Agni’s mouth. Agni gave the greater part of it to the Kṛttikās, and Kārttikeya was born; the rest he placed in Svāhā, remembering his promise, and from it were born the twins Suvarṇa and Suvarṇā, unrivalled in beauty. Agni gave Suvarṇā in marriage to Dharma.
Because the tejas had mingled, both children went beyond restraint, taking the forms of others, and the devas and asuras together pronounced a śāpa (curse) on them. Agni went to Brahmā, who sent him to the Gautamī. There Agni praised Maheśvara, and Bhagavān Śiva granted a vara that turned the very marks of the śāpa into glory: Suvarṇa would be the purifier of the three worlds, the dakshiṇā and the beauty of all things, and Suvarṇā, named Kamalā, would make complete whatever she glanced at and would dwell everywhere. Then Bhagavān Śiva remained there in the form of a liṅga.
Afterwards Śārdūla, lord of the dānavas, defeated Dharma and by deceit carried Suvarṇā off to the netherworlds. Agni and Dharma praised Bhagavān Vishṇu again and again, and he cut off Śārdūla’s head with his divine cakra and brought Suvarṇā back. Bhagavān Śiva, delighted, embraced her again and again as his own daughter. In the place where Agni and the eternal Dharma attained great joy, where their tears of joy fell, a river arose named Ānandā and Nandinī.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 58
Bhagavān Śiva and Suvarṇā at the confluence
The confluence of this river with the Gaṅgā is sacred. Bhagavān Śiva is present there, and in that same confluence Suvarṇā is manifestly present even today. She is also known by seven names: Dākshāyaṇī, Śivā, Āgneyī, Ambikā, Kātyāyanī, Īśvarī and Jagadādhārā, “the support of the universe”. She is the constant giver of her devotees’ cherished desires, and she adorns both banks of the Gautamī.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 58
The rite and its phala
A holy bath and the giving of dāna (gifts) at Nandinī-saṅgama and at the other tīrthas on both banks are auspicious and give all cherished desires. The Purāṇa counts fourteen thousand tīrthas on the northern bank and sixteen thousand on the southern bank here, each with its own marks and its own name. Whoever listens to this account, reads it or remembers it is made complete in every desire, and a man who knows it and bathes there remains always rich and especially devoted to dharma.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 58
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 58