Narratives from the Brahma Purāṇa

Brahmā creates Ahalyā and gives her to Gautama; Indra deceives her; Gautama curses both, and the Gautamī frees them.

On the Añjana mountain by the Gautamī, Añjanā bears Hanūmān to Vāyu and Adrikā bears Adri to Nirṛti, and the bath in the Gautamī frees both women.

Young Bhagīratha wins Gaṅgā from Śiva's matted hair and leads her to the nether world to free the ashes of Sagara's sixty thousand sons.

A Cāṇḍāla of Avantī, who kept the Ekādaśī night vigil for twenty years, keeps his word to a Brahma-rākshasa and shares his merit with him.

Dadhīci gives his bones for the devas' weapons, Gabhastinī enters the fire, and their son Pippalāda is raised by the trees and calmed by Śiva.

Vināyaka's plan, a drought and a cow lead the ṛshi Gautama to Kailāsa, where Śiva gives him Gaṅgā, who comes down on Brahmāgiri as the Gautamī.

King Janaka asks Yājñavalkya how to reach moksha easily, learns from Varuṇa that karma on the Gautamī gives it, and performs the aśvamedha yajña there.

A pigeon couple on Brahmāgiri gives their lives to feed a hunter as a guest, and the hunter is freed from pāpa by the Gautamī. The place is Kapotatīrtha.

Bhagavān Vishṇu shows Nārada his māyā: Nārada dives into water, lives a whole life as the woman Suśīlā, and comes out as himself.

Saṃjñā leaves Bhagavān Sūrya, who meets her at the Gautamī in the form of a horse, and the Aśvins are born in the Gaṅgā at Janasthāna.

Śukra, treated unequally by his teacher, prays to Bhagavān Śiva at the Gautamī and receives the Sañjīvanī Vidyā, the knowledge that brings the dead back to life.

Gaurī is born to Himavān and weds Bhagavān Śiva on the Himālaya, and Śiva gives Brahmā a sacred water jar from which the Gautamī later flows.

Bhagavān Vishṇu takes birth as Vāmana and wins the three worlds from Bali, and Brahmā's offering of water at Vishṇu's foot sends the Gaṅgā flowing in four directions.

Vasishṭha Maharshi teaches king Karāla Janaka the whole Sāṃkhya-Yoga path: the twenty-four tattvas, the twenty-fifth, the twenty-sixth, and the three states of the seeker.

Bhagavān Vishṇu offers his own eye as the thousandth lotus to Bhagavān Śiva, who returns his discus, and the spot on the Gautamī becomes Cakratīrtha.

At the seven ṛshis' satra at Bhīmeśvara, Viśvāmitra teaches that karma bears fruit by bhāva, and Viśvarūpa enters the fire and becomes Vṛtra.