Jāmadagnī (Godāvarī Stream)

Jāmadagnī · jāmadagnī, “the stream of Jamadagni”

Jāmadagnī is one of the seven streams into which the seven ṛshis divided the Gautamī Gaṅgā, the Godāvarī. It bears the name of Jamadagni Maharshi, and it is the seventh and last of the seven. Brahmā tells Nārada of the seven streams in the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa, in the account of Ṛshisatra, the tīrtha where the saptarshis sat for tapas and a great satra, and where Bhagavān Śiva is called Bhīmeśvara.

The seven streams

Brahmā tells Nārada that the seven ṛshis divided the Gaṅgā into seven streams, and he names them in order:

  1. Vāsishṭhī, the stream of Vasishṭha, at the extreme right;
  2. Vaiśvāmitrī, the stream of Viśvāmitra, flowing 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;
  7. Jāmadagnī, the stream of Jamadagni, the last.

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

Ṛshisatra and Bhīmeśvara

There the noble ṛshis of great vision performed a great yajña. To their satra came Viśvarūpa, a powerful enemy of the devas. He pleased the ṛshis with brahmacarya and tapas and humbly asked them how he might beget a son invincible even to the devas. Viśvāmitra answered him with a teaching on karma and bhāva (the inner disposition): every rite, tapas, vrata, dāna, japa and yajña bears fruit according to the bhāva of the one who performs it, and bhāva is of three kinds, sāttvika, rājasa and tāmasa.

Viśvarūpa took up a tāmasa bhāva and performed a terrible rite before the ṛshis, though he was restrained all the while. In a pit where a terrible fire blazed, he meditated on the Ātmā in the cave of the heart as a terrifying Purusha within that fire. An unembodied divine voice told him to offer himself into the fire, keeping back his jaṭā (matted hair), and he would beget a son. He did so, and the son was the one the Veda calls Vṛtra, who too became wicked. The ṛshis bowed to Bhīmeśvara and went to their āśramas. Because Viśvarūpa meditated there on the Supreme in his terrible (bhīma) form, Bhagavān Śiva is called Bhīmeśvara in the Purāṇa.

The phala

A holy bath and dāna at Ṛshisatra surely bestow mukti. One who reads or listens to this account with devotion 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 at the confluence of the Godāvarī and the sea is full of puṇya; he lifts his pitṛs out of terrible naraka and goes to the city of Śiva. Bhīmanātha there is Brahman itself, known through the Vedas, to be prayed to, bowed to and meditated upon; those who have his darśana never again enter the world of sorrow.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 103

Sources

  • Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 103