Śaṅkara-tīrtha (Gautamī)
Śaṅkara-tīrtha · śaṅkara-tīrtha, “the tīrtha of Śaṅkara”
Bāṇatīrtha has other meanings too: see all meanings of Bāṇatīrtha.
Śaṅkara-tīrtha is a tīrtha on the Gautamī, the Godāvarī. It is the place where the shining cakra of Bhagavān Vishṇu was washed after it cut off the head of Śārdūla, lord of the dānavas, who had carried off Suvarṇā, the daughter of Agni. It is known by three names: Śaṅkara-tīrtha, Vaishṇava-tīrtha and Siddha-tīrtha. Brahmā tells its account to Nārada in the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa, among the tīrthas of the southern bank. A holy bath and dāna (gift) there are auspicious and give every cherished desire.
Suvarṇā and Śārdūla
Brahmā tells Nārada that Agni had twin children, born of the tejas (divine radiance) of Bhagavān Śiva that Agni carried: a son, Suvarṇa, and a daughter, Suvarṇā. Agni gave Suvarṇā in marriage to the wise Dharma. On the Gautamī, Agni praised Maheśvara, and Bhagavān Śiva granted his children glory. Suvarṇā, the daughter of Agni, then lived joyfully with her husband Dharma.
Meanwhile Śārdūla, the lord of the dānavas, attacked Dharma and defeated him, and by deceit he carried off Suvarṇā, the abode of fortune, of happy married life and of graceful charm. He took her, famed in all the world, down to pātāla (the netherworlds).
Agni, the carrier of the offerings, and Dharma, his son-in-law, praised Bhagavān Vishṇu, the master of the worlds, again and again, and told him what had happened. Bhagavān Vishṇu cut off the head of Śārdūla with his divine cakra. He brought back the divine Suvarṇā, the most beautiful woman in the world, who was the daughter of Maheśvara as well as the beloved daughter of Agni, and he showed her to Maheśvara. Bhagavān Śiva was pleased and embraced her again and again.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 58
The tīrtha and its names
The place where the cakra, shining brilliantly, that had cut off Śārdūla‘s head was washed became a tīrtha. It is well known as Śaṅkara-tīrtha, and also as Vaishṇava-tīrtha, the tīrtha of Bhagavān Vishṇu, and as Siddha-tīrtha.
Near it arose the other tīrthas of that account: the river Ānandā, also called Nandinī, born where the tears of joy of Agni and Dharma fell, with its sacred confluence with the Gaṅgā, where Bhagavān Śiva is present and Suvarṇā is manifest even today; and Tapovana, where Agni performed tapas.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 58
The rite and its phala
Brahmā says that there are these and other tīrthas on both banks. A holy bath and the giving of dāna in them is auspicious and gives all cherished desires.
There are fourteen thousand tīrthas on the northern bank and sixteen thousand on the southern bank, each with its own marks and its own name; Brahmā says he has told them only briefly. Whoever listens to this account, reads it or remembers it becomes complete in every desire, and one who knows it and bathes there remains always rich and righteous.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 58
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 58