Gautama and the Descent of Gautamī

The fullest account of how the Gautamī came down to the Earth is in Chapters 5 to 7 of the Gautamī Māhātmya in the Brahma Mahā Purāṇa. It begins with Umā’s jealousy of Gaṅgā, who stayed in Śiva’s matted hair. A drought of twenty-four years left only the āśrama of the ṛshi Gautama on Brahmāgiri as a refuge for all the ṛshis of the world.

Vināyaka, following his mother’s secret wish, made a plan with a cow in disguise that led Gautama to ask Śiva for Gaṅgā. Gautama saw the divine purpose behind this apparent disaster. He went to Kailāsa and sang the famous Ashṭamūrti stotra, and Śiva gave him Gaṅgā. Gautama led her to Brahmāgiri, where she divided into fifteen channels and received six holy names.

Gaṅgā in Śiva’s hair and Umā’s jealousy

The waters of Gaṅgā came down from the foot of Bhagavān Vishṇu and were caught by Śiva in his matted hair. After that, Śiva’s love for Gaṅgā grew deeper. She had become his dearest. From his delight in her beauty, her sweetness, her feminine qualities and her holy nature, he made an excellent essence. He kept her on his head as a sign of honour.

Umā knew this. Again and again she spoke to her husband in anger: “Send her away, O Śiva.” He refused. Umā said to herself, “Oh, I am helpless.” In her distress she spoke in secret to Vināyaka, Skanda and Jaya: “He will never give up Gaṅgā. She is dear to him too. How will he leave her?”

After much thought she turned to Vināyaka and said: “Either I shall go back to Himavān and do tapas once again, or I shall give this task to some holy brāhmaṇa who has cleared away his pāpa (sin) by tapas. If he asks her, Gaṅgā may go to the Earth.”

The twenty-four-year drought and Gautama’s āśrama

At that time a drought of twenty-four years came upon the world of mortals. It destroyed all beings, those that move and those that do not. Only one place was spared, the āśrama of Gautama on the holy mountain Brahmāgiri.

Brahmāgiri is the mountain where Brahmā had once done a great yajña (fire ritual) to create beings that move and beings that do not. From then on the mountain carried his name. Gautama had made his āśrama on this auspicious mountain. By the power of his tapas, neither famine nor drought, neither fear nor grief nor poverty was ever heard of there. During the twenty-four years of drought, Gautama alone fed all the worlds. Only when Gautama made offerings were the devas in svarga (heaven) pleased.

Ṛshis from every āśrama heard of Gautama’s āśrama and came to him. He fed them all as a father, as a son and as a disciple. By his command herbs and vegetables grew, and everyone used them. Whatever he thought of came to be. Every day he asked them, “What shall I do for you?” and served them all alike for many years.

Vināyaka’s plan: the cow in disguise

Even in the world of the devas people spoke of Gautama’s fame: “Gautama has done what the devas can do only with effort.” Vināyaka said to his mother Umā: “This brāhmaṇa Gautama may be able to move Gaṅgā from my father’s head by worshipping the three-eyed Śiva. He alone has the power to plead with the devī. Let us find some way so that the brāhmaṇa will ask her.”

Vināyaka went to Gautama’s āśrama with his brother and Jaya, and stayed for a few days. Having secretly arranged everything, he began to urge the other ṛshis to leave. He said: “We have been fed by Gautama’s food. Let us ask him and go to our own clean āśramas.” Gautama heard of this plan. He bowed down before the ṛshis and begged them to stay: “I shall serve your feet. It is not right for you, devas on the Earth, to go to another āśrama.”

Vināyaka, disguised as a brāhmaṇa, told the ṛshis to ignore Gautama’s plea. He said they could not leave in peace while Gautama was holding them back. He told Jaya: “Take the form of a cow and go to the place where Gautama is. Eat the paddy plants. If you are beaten, or shouted at, or even looked at, bellow loudly and fall as if between life and death.”

Jaya sided with Vighneśvara and did so. She went to Gautama’s fields in the form of a cow and ate the paddy plants. Gautama saw her and only touched her with a blade of grass to drive her away. The cow cried out, fell to the ground and seemed to die.

The ṛshis who had gathered there were led by Vighnarāja in his brāhmaṇa disguise. They said: “All of us are going away. We cannot stay in your āśrama. This cow is the mother of the Rudras and the dear one of the worlds, and she has fallen dead. We cannot stay here.” Gautama was struck as if by a thunderbolt and fell at their feet.

The remedy and Gautama’s understanding

Vināyaka, still disguised as a brāhmaṇa, spoke for all the ṛshis: “We have heard that the water from Brahmā’s jar now stays in the matted hair of Śiva. Bring it quickly by tapas and holy rites. Pour it over this cow that has fallen. After that, all of us shall stay in your house as before.”

The ṛshis agreed and left. Vināyaka went back in secret, glad that his task was done.

Gautama sat alone and thought deeply. By the power of his inner insight he came to a firm view. He said: “This whole matter was arranged by the devas. It is a help to the worlds. It is a task that pleases Śambhu and Pārvatī, the task of bringing Gaṅgā to the Earth. There is no pāpa in me at all.”

Full of joy, he spoke with his wife and made up his mind: “After I please the three-eyed Śiva, whose banner is the bull, I shall bring the excellent river. I shall give joy to Pārvatī, the wife of Śiva. The co-wife of the mother of the universe stays in the matted hair of Maheśvara.” He left Brahmāgiri for Kailāsa, where Śiva lives, honoured by the mighty devas.

The Ashṭamūrti stotra at Kailāsa

At Kailāsa, Gautama held his speech, spread kuśa grass, and sat with a pure mind and body. Then he sang a famous stotra (hymn of praise) to Maheśvara. As he sang, a shower of flowers fell. The stotra praises the eight cosmic bodies of Śiva, the Ashṭamūrti.

Śiva takes the body of the Earth to create happiness through worldly pleasures and to carry all beings that move and do not move. His form of Water is for the creation, upkeep and ending of the Earth, and to hold and feed it. His cosmic bodies of the Sun, the Moon and Fire mark out time, give nectar, hold up creation, and bring joy to living beings. His form of Vāyu gives movement and strength and the right order among living beings. His form of Ākāśa (the ether) holds everything without divisions and makes all things, all directions and all worlds possible. His body of yajña is made of all the tools and rites of yajña.

Beyond all these, Śiva is the unborn and the unmeasurable. He is the one named by the word “Śiva” alone, the truth, who is not pointed to by the Vedas alone and not reached by the mind alone.

The stotra ends with praise of Umā. It is by her grace that all the pleasures of the mind, the eyes, the awareness and the thought bear fruit. She is dear to Śiva, the mother of the universe, the one whose names are auspicious and whose form is that of the Moon.

While Gautama was still singing, Śiva appeared before him, with Umā, Gaṇeśa and his followers. Śiva was delighted.

Śiva gives Gaṅgā

Śiva said: “What shall I give you, O Gautama? I am delighted by your devotion, your praise and your fine holy rites. Ask for anything, even things the devas cannot easily reach.”

Gautama was overcome with tears of joy. He said simply: “O ruler of the devas, if you are pleased with me, give me the splendid Gaṅgā that stays in your matted hair.”

Śiva said: “What you have asked is for the help of the three worlds. You are free from fear on every side, so you may also ask for something for yourself.”

Gautama said: “This is what I choose. May those devotees who praise you and the devī with this stotra be rich in all they wish for.” Śiva gave this. He urged Gautama to ask for more.

Then Gautama asked: “Let all pāpa, even the killing of a brāhmaṇa and other great wrongs, done in mind, in speech or by the body, be destroyed by a bath in this river anywhere it flows until it reaches the sea. Let it be the holiest of all holy rivers. Let merely remembering it give the puṇya (merit) that other holy rivers give during eclipses, equinoxes and solar transits. Let it give moksha to all who come within ten yojanas of it. Let it be greater than all other holy rivers in all three worlds, in svarga, on the Earth and in the nether regions. And wherever this river flows until the sea, O Śiva, be present there always.”

Śiva replied: “So be it. A holy place greater than this has never been, and never will be. It is truth. It is truth. It is truth. The Gautamī is the holiest of all rivers.” Then he vanished.

The descent: fifteen channels and six names

Gautama, now full of power and wearing matted hair, led Gaṅgā out of Śiva’s locks and entered Brahmāgiri, surrounded by devas. Flowers fell like rain. Devas, ṛshis, brāhmaṇas and kshatriyas came with shouts of “Victory.”

Gautama placed his matted hair on the top of Brahmāgiri and spoke to Gaṅgā: “O mother, born of the matted hair of the three-eyed Śiva, O devī who gives all that is wished for, forgive me. You are calm. Go happily. Do what is good for all.”

Gaṅgā appeared in divine form, wearing a divine garland and perfume. She asked: “Where shall I go?” Gautama answered: “I have asked you for the good of the three worlds. Śambhu has given you to me. Let it not be otherwise.”

Gaṅgā agreed. She divided herself into three, to flow in svarga, on the Earth and in the nether worlds. There were four channels in svarga, seven on the Earth and four in the nether worlds, fifteen channels in all. Each channel has the power of all the others. She flows destroying all pāpa and giving all that is wished for. Human beings see only the seven channels that are visible on the Earth. The other channels flow unseen in svarga and in the depths below.

Śiva himself appeared before Gautama and the gathered ṛshis and gave final instructions on how to bathe in the Gautamī with benefit. The hands, the feet and the mind must be pure. One should feed brāhmaṇas and get their permission. One should keep brahmacarya (celibacy). One should not talk with fallen persons. One should give clothes to the poor. One should listen to the accounts of Hari and Gaṅgā. He also said: “Some holy places give great puṇya only on certain occasions, when the devas arrive. But the Gautamī is a holy place for everyone on every occasion.”

Then Śiva gave the river six holy names:

• Gautamī, because she was brought by Gautama.
• Vaishṇavī, because she flowed from the foot of Bhagavān Vishṇu.
• Brāhmī, because she was held in Brahmā’s water jar.
• Godāvarī, the giver of cows and prosperity.
• Nandā, the giver of joy.
• Sunandā, the great giver of joy.

Among all the channels of Bhāgīrathī, the Gautamī Gaṅgā, brought by the power of a brāhmaṇa and carrying Śiva’s own matted hair, is the best. There is no holy place more auspicious in svarga, on the Earth or in the nether worlds.

Sources

• Brahma Mahā Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 5
• Brahma Mahā Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 6
• Brahma Mahā Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 7