Varāha Brings Back Yajña (Varāhatīrtha)
Varāha Tīrtha · varāha tīrtha, “the tīrtha of the boar”
Varāha has other meanings too: see all meanings of Varāha.
Varāha brings back Yajña is the account of the Varāha tīrtha on the Gautamī, told by Brahmā to Nārada in Chapter 9 of the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa. The rākshasa Sindhusena defeated the devas and carried Yajña, the yajña itself, down to the nether world, and the earth was left without yajña. The devas went to Bhagavān Vishṇu, who took the body of a Varāha, went down to Rasātala by the very path by which the Gaṅgā had reached the nether world, killed the rākshasas and dānavas there and came up again holding Yajña in his mouth. On Brahmagiri, where the devas waited, he washed his blood-stained limbs in the Gaṅgā at the place since called Varāhakuṇḍa, and set Yajña before the devas.
Nārada’s request
Nārada said: “My mind is not satisfied by the accounts you have told. It longs to hear the puṇya of each tīrtha separately, in order, together with its accounts, beginning with how the Gaṅgā was brought by the brāhmaṇa.” Brahmā answered that he could not tell the greatness of the tīrthas in full, nor could Nārada listen to it all; still, bowing to the three-eyed Tryambaka, he would speak briefly of the tīrthas told by the ṛshis and in the words of the Vedas. The place where the three-eyed one revealed himself is the Tryambaka tīrtha, which grants bhukti and mukti. Another, well known in the three worlds, is the Varāha tīrtha, and Brahmā told how Vishṇu‘s name came to be joined with it.
Sindhusena carries off Yajña
Long ago a rākshasa named Sindhusena harassed and defeated the devas, carried off Yajña and went down to pātāla. With Yajña gone to the nether world, the earth was left without yajña, and when yajña perishes there is neither this world nor the next. The devas, with Indra at their head, pursued the enemy into the nether world, but could not conquer him. They went to Vishṇu, the Purāṇa-Purusha, and told him of the rākshasa’s deed, the utter destruction of yajña.
Vishṇu’s promise
Bhagavān Vishṇu said: “Taking the body of a Varāha, with the śaṅkha, cakra and gadā in my hands, I shall go down to the nether world, kill the chief asuras and bring back the holy Yajña. Let the devas go to svarga, and let the fever of your minds leave you.”
Varāha in Rasātala
“By the very path by which the Gaṅgā reached the nether world, dear son,” Brahmā tells Nārada, “Vishṇu Cakradhara hurried down to Rasātala, breaking through the earth.” In the form of a Varāha he killed the rākshasas and dānavas who lived in Rasātala and held the great Yajña in his mouth. Then Varāha, the enjoyer of yajñas and conqueror of foes, came up out of Rasātala by the same path by which he had gone in.
Varāhakuṇḍa
On Mount Brahmagiri the devas were waiting for Hari. Coming out by that path he reached the Gaṅgāsravaṇa, the flowing place of the Gaṅgā, and washed his blood-stained limbs in her water; so the place became known as Varāhakuṇḍa. Then Hari, best of the devas, set before the devas the Yajña he had carried in his mouth, and so Yajña was born from his mouth. Since then the sacred ladle is called the chief part of the yajña, and it has the shape of a boar’s mouth.
Phalaśruti
- The Varāha tīrtha is the holiest of tīrthas and grants every desire.
- Bathing and giving dāna there gives the fruit of all yajñas.
- One who stays there and remembers his ancestors, or does any act of puṇya, frees his pitṛs from all pāpas, and they go to svarga.
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 9