Pātāla Gaṅgā

Pātāla Gaṅgā, “the Gaṅgā of the nether worlds”

Pātāla Gaṅgā is the Gaṅgā of the nether worlds (pātāla). Brahmā tells Nārada, in the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa, that Garuḍa brought her water up from the nether worlds to revive the nāgas, who had been scorched by the heat of Sūrya, and that her water, being the water of the Gaṅgā, revived them and freed them from old age. That water became the river Vañjarā, with amṛta flowing in it, on the southern bank of the Gautamī. Where the Vañjarā joins the Gautamī, the Gaṅgā of the nether worlds meets the Gaṅgā of the mortal world, at the tīrtha called Vañjarā-saṅgama.

Garuḍa and the nāgas

Garuḍa, the king of birds, had become a slave of the nāgas because his mother Vinatā was a slave, and his mind was full of grief. Alone in a secluded place he sighed: “Only they are blessed, only they have puṇya, who are free of servitude to others. Fie on those who live under another’s control!” He went to his mother and asked her by whose fault she had become a slave. Vinatā answered that it was her own: she had said that the one whose word proved false would become the slave of the other, and Kadrū had defeated her by deceit. “Fate is all-powerful,” she said. “When I became a slave, you too became a slave, O son of a brāhmaṇa.” Garuḍa fell silent.

Once Kadrū said to Vinatā: “Your son goes to bow to Sūrya without hindrance. My sons too wish to see Sūrya, the teacher of the three worlds. Let them be carried to the sphere of the sun every day.” Vinatā said that she could not do it, but that her son would carry them. Garuḍa said “So be it”, and the host of nāgas mounted him. As they came near the place of Sūrya, they were scorched by its fierce heat and cried out: “Turn back! Obeisance to Sūrya! Enough of our wish to go to his abode. We are burned by his splendour.” But Garuḍa said, “I shall show Sūrya to you all,” and sped on through the sky towards the sun. Hundreds and thousands of nāgas fell to the earth on an island, their bodies burned.

Hearing their cries, Kadrū came in great distress. “Your son has done a grave wrong,” she said to Vinatā. “If Kaśyapa of great brilliance were here, my sons would be free of pain. How can they find peace now?” Vinatā was afraid, and she rebuked her son: “This does not befit you. Good men never deal treacherously, even with enemies. The moon shines alike on the learned brāhmaṇa and on the lowest-born. Only base men, who cannot act openly and by strength, harm others by fraud.” Then she asked Kadrū how her sons, now seized by old age, could be healed.

The water of the nether worlds

Kadrū said: “There is water of the Gaṅgā in the nether worlds. If my sons are sprinkled with it, they will have peace.” In a moment Garuḍa brought water from the nether worlds and sprinkled it on the nāgas. Then he said to Indra, Śatakratu: “Let the clouds rain here. They are the helpers of the three worlds.” The clouds rained, and the nāgas became happy. The place where they were showered is the land of the nāgas.

The water Garuḍa brought revived the nāgas because it was the water of the Gaṅgā, and it took away their old age. That water of the Gaṅgā destroys all the pāpas of people. To destroy the grief of old age it became the river Vañjarā, with amṛta flowing along with it, on the southern bank of the Gaṅgā, the Gautamī.

The Vañjarā-saṅgama

The tīrtha called Vañjarā-saṅgama is well known in the three worlds and is always frequented by ṛshis, siddhas and rājarshis. “Where the Gaṅgā of the nether worlds meets the Gaṅgā of the mortal world, how can its glory be told?” Brahmā asks.

  • The Vañjarā and its confluence dispel old age, poverty and distress of mind, and prevent pain of the body.
  • Merely by remembering the confluence all pāpas vanish, and all adversities are destroyed.
  • No one can tell the fruit of bathing and giving dāna there.
  • The learned say there are one hundred and twenty-five thousand tīrthas there. They give all riches and dispel all pāpas.
  • There is no tīrtha anywhere equal to the Vañjarā-saṅgama.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 89

Sources

  • Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 89