Nṛsiṃha Brahmin’s Caitra Snāna

Nṛsiṃha was a devoted brahmin of Kamalapura. On Caitra Navamī he bathed at the Rāmahrada, a sacred pool at Pratishṭhāna on the Godāvarī, where Bhagavān Rāma appears each year. There he met three piśācas (ghost-like beings) who were bound in that form by their guru’s śāpa (a curse). He gave them the puṇya (merit) of his snāna (sacred bath), and all three were freed.

The eleventh sarga of the Manohara Khaṇḍa of the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa tells this account. The same sarga holds a second Caitra-snāna narrative.

Nṛsiṃha’s journey to Pratishṭhāna

Nṛsiṃha received a divine prompting, or a vision, that told him to go to Pratishṭhāna. This is an ancient city on the Godāvarī river, known today as Paithan in Maharashtra. In later times it was the seat of the Sātavāhana dynasty. In the sacred geography it is known as the place of the Rāmahrada, a sacred lake or pool linked with the presence of Bhagavān Rāma.

Nṛsiṃha went to this tīrtha to take the Caitra snāna. This is the sacred bath of the month of Caitra, in spring, and above all of Caitra Navamī, the day Bhagavān Rāma was born. He came to the Godāvarī and to the Rāmahrada, where Bhagavān Rāma appears in subtle presence on Caitra Navamī.

Rāma’s appearance at the Rāmahrada

On the day of Caitra Navamī, Bhagavān Rāma appeared at the Rāmahrada on the Godāvarī, in subtle or visible form. The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa presents this as a regular event. On Caitra Navamī, Bhagavān Rāma comes to this tīrtha to accept the ārādhanā and the snāna of devoted pilgrims. This is in keeping with the decree that the devatās of the tīrthas dwell in outer waters during the month of Caitra.

The three piśācas

At the Rāmahrada, Nṛsiṃha met three piśācas. Each was in the piśāca state, a bodiless, ghost-like life, because of the guru’s śāpa. Their histories were these.

• Two brahmin piśācas. They had been disciples of a guru named Nārāyaṇa. They had wronged their guru, and he had put a śāpa on them to wander as piśācas until they were freed.
• The third piśāca. This one had cursed Nārāyaṇa’s own daughter, a serious offence against the family of a ṛshi. He fell into the piśāca state because of it.

Even in this state the three were aware enough to be present at the sacred tīrtha on Caitra Navamī, the one place where freedom was possible.

Rambhā and the wet cloth

Before Nṛsiṃha gave his puṇya, Rambhā came. She is the celestial apsarā (celestial dancer). Her wet cloth, dripping with the water she had used for bathing, touched the three piśācas. Water made holy by the touch of a divine being gave them a little relief. It prepared them to receive the greater freedom that Nṛsiṃha’s act would bring.

The gift of puṇya and the freeing of the piśācas

Nṛsiṃha took the Caitra snāna at the Rāmahrada with full devotion. Then, as the Rāmāyaṇa tradition of puṇya-dāna (giving one’s merit to another) teaches, he chose to give the puṇya of his snāna to the three piśācas.

This gift paid the debt that had held the three in the piśāca state. The guru’s śāpa was dissolved by the puṇya that came to them, and all three piśācas were freed. They came out of their ghostly forms in their first, human-like nature, pure and free.

Full of gratitude, the freed beings returned to the āśrama of their guru Nārāyaṇa. He took them back. The guru’s daughters were given in marriage to the two freed brahmins, so that a new family bond took the place of the old śāpa.

Nṛsiṃha as father of Rāmadāsa

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa names Nṛsiṃha the brahmin as the father, or an ancestor, of Rāmadāsa. Rāmadāsa is the devotee who tells the Yātrā, Yāga, Vilāsa, Janma, Vivāha, Rājya and Manohara Khaṇḍas. Nṛsiṃha was himself a devotee of Bhagavān Rāma. He went on pilgrimage, took the Caitra snāna, and gave his puṇya for the freedom of others.

Sources

• Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Manohara Khaṇḍa, Sarga 11