Ātreyī (Godāvarī Stream)

Ātreyī · ātreyī, “she who belongs to Atri”

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

Ātreyī is the stream of Atri Maharshi, the sixth of the seven streams into which the seven ṛshis (the saptarshis) divided the Gaṅgā of the south, the Gautamī or Godāvarī. Brahmā tells Nārada of it in Chapter 103 of the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa, in the account of Ṛshisatra, “the satra of the ṛshis”, the tīrtha where the seven ṛshis sat to perform tapas and where Bhagavān Śiva is called Bhīmeśvara.

The seven streams of the Gautamī

The seven ṛshis divided the Gautamī into seven streams, and each bears the name of its ṛshi. Brahmā names them in order:

  1. Vāsishṭhī, the stream of Vasishṭha, at the extreme right;
  2. Vaiśvāmitrī, the stream of Viśvāmitra, which flows next;
  3. Vāmadevī, the stream of Vāmadeva;
  4. Gautamī, the stream of Gautama, the splendid one in the middle;
  5. Bhāradvājī, the stream of Bharadvāja;
  6. Ātreyī, the stream of Atri, which comes next;
  7. Jāmadagnī, the stream of Jamadagni, the last.

“Thus the seven streams have been named,” Brahmā says.

Ṛshisatra and Bhīmeśvara

There the noble ṛshis of great vision performed a great yajña, the satra. To that satra came Viśvarūpa, a powerful enemy of the devas. He pleased the ṛshis with brahmacarya and tapas and asked them how he might beget a son invincible even to the devas. Viśvāmitra taught him that karma bears fruit according to the bhāva, the inner disposition, with which it is done. Viśvarūpa took up a tāmasa bhāva, performed a terrible tapas before a blazing fire in a pit, meditated on the Supreme in a terrible (bhīma) form and gave himself into the fire; from this came the son whom the Veda calls Vṛtra. The ṛshis bowed to Bhīmeśvara and went to their āśramas. Because Viśvarūpa meditated on him in his terrible form, Bhagavān Śiva here is named Bhīmeśvara in the Purāṇa.

The phala

The holy bath (snāna) and dāna performed at this tīrtha bestow mukti. One who devoutly reads and hears this account and bows to Bhagavān Śiva, whose feet are the refuge, whose remembrance dispels all pāpas and who grants moksha, prospers. The Godāvarī destroys all pāpas and bestows supreme wealth always and everywhere, but above all where she joins the ocean. One who bathes there, at the meeting of the Godāvarī and the sea, is full of puṇya: he lifts his pitṛs out of terrible naraka and goes to the city of Bhagavān Śiva. Bhīmanātha, Bhagavān Śiva here, is Brahman itself, to be known through the Vedas, prayed to, bowed to and meditated upon; those who have his darśana never again enter the world of suffering.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 103

Sources

  • Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 103