Dhaumya Tīrtha Yātrā

In the Vana Parva of the Mahābhārata, Dhaumya, the family priest of the Pāṇḍavas, tells Yudhishṭhira about the holy tīrthas (pilgrimage places) of Bhāratavarsha. He arranges them by the four directions: east, south, west and north. The account is in Chapters 86 to 90. It is meant to inspire the Pāṇḍavas for a real tīrtha-yātrā (pilgrimage) during their exile in the forest. In the same parva, Pulastya gives a similar list to Bhīshma.

Dhaumya and the setting

Dhaumya was the purohita (family priest) of the Pāṇḍavas. He was a brahmaṛshi of great learning and firm dharma, and he went with them into forest exile.

Yudhishṭhira was troubled by the hardship of forest life. He was poor, and he could not feed properly the brāhmaṇas and ṛshis who had followed him. He wondered whether the Pāṇḍavas should go on a tīrtha-yātrā. Dhaumya then offered to describe the holy places that awaited them.

Dhaumya took Yudhishṭhira, in thought, through each of the four directions. For each he named the tīrthas, their devas, their stories and the benefit of visiting them. The actual pilgrimage was made after this account, and after Lomaśa came from Indra with his instructions. (Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 86 and 87)

The eastern tīrthas

Dhaumya began with the east and named its rivers, lakes and āśramas (hermitages). The chief sites lie on and near the river Gaṅgā as she flows east to the sea. They include meetings of rivers, bathing places (ghāṭas) praised by ṛshis, and places where great ṛshis performed tapas.

The eastern ocean (pūrva-samudra) was also named, with the places on its shore where the sun rises, as places of great holiness. Sites linked with the city of Vārāṇasī, the Gaṅgā at Prayāga and places along the routes of ancient kings were named with their phalas (rewards). (Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 87)

The southern tīrthas

The southern tīrthas were a large part of Dhaumya’s account. The chief sites were these.

  • Godāvarī. Called the southern Gaṅgā. Its banks have the āśramas of great ṛshis, including the home of Agastya.
  • Agastya’s āśrama. Named as a holy place to visit in the south. It is tied to Agastya’s journey to the south and to his setting up of dharma in the Deccan.
  • The southern ocean (dakshiṇa-samudra). The sea at the southern tip of Bhāratavarsha. In some accounts Agastya drank this ocean. The south is also the direction of the realm of Yama (Yamadakshiṇa).
  • Other tīrthas on the Kāverī, the Kṛshṇā, the Tuṅgabhadrā and other southern rivers.

(Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 88)

The western tīrthas

The western tīrthas included places on the Narmadā. The Mahābhārata and the Purāṇas praise her as a river that purifies in the highest degree. Dhaumya also described the western ocean (paśchima-samudra) and its coast, where there are great pilgrimage places at the meeting points of rivers and sea.

He named places linked with the pūjā of Bhagavān Sūrya and with the tradition of the Ādityas in the west. Prabhāsa was placed among the foremost western places. It is the famous tīrtha on the western coast where the Sarasvatī meets the ocean. (Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 89)

The northern tīrthas

The northern tīrthas are centred on the Himālaya and the rivers that flow from it. They were the last part of Dhaumya’s list.

  • Gaṅgādvāra (Haridvāra). Where the Gaṅgā comes down from the mountains to the plains. It is among the holiest places for bathing and for rites for the ancestors.
  • Badarī (Badarikāśrama). The āśrama of Nara and Nārāyaṇa in the Himālaya. The epics praise it as a highest centre of tapas and of divine presence.
  • Kedāra. The holy place of Bhagavān Śiva in the high Himālaya.
  • The Gaṅgā at her source. The headwaters of the Gaṅgā in the Himālaya, counted as the most powerful waters of all.
  • Pushkara. The lake of Bhagavān Brahmā and the place of one of the most famous yajñas. Bhagavān Brahmā is always present there.
  • Kurukshetra. The holy plain of the Kurus, where the Sarasvatī flows and where great yajñas were held from ancient times. It later became the place of the Mahābhārata war.
  • Prabhāsa. Named in the northern list as well as the western one, because of its associations.

(Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 90)

How each tīrtha is described

For each tīrtha, Dhaumya’s account usually gives these points.

  1. The name of the place.
  2. The presiding deva, often Bhagavān Vishṇu, Bhagavān Śiva, Bhagavān Brahmā or a particular ṛshi.
  3. The story of the event that made the place holy.
  4. The number of days a person must stay there to gain the full phala.
  5. The yajña or tapas to which that phala is equal.

Pulastya’s list uses the same pattern. (Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 86 to 90)

Sources

  • Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 86 to 90