Gaya Yajña

Gaya was a rājarshi (a king who became a ṛshi through tapas and right conduct) of the Pūru line. The ṛshi Śamaṭha tells of his great yajña in the Vana Parva of the Mahābhārata. It was held on the Phalgu river, and that place became the tīrtha (sacred place) of Gayā, named after him.

The rājarshi Gaya

Gaya belonged to the Pūru line. He was the son of King Amūrtaraya, a ruler of ancient fame. Gaya was famous not only for his rule but for the depth of his devotion, his great generosity in dāna (giving), and the great size of the yajñas he performed. Among the kings known for yajña in the Mahābhārata’s roll of great yajñas, Gaya stands among the foremost.

The yajña at Gayā

Gaya performed a yajña of vast size at the place on the Phalgu river that would come to carry his name. It was remarkable in several ways.

• Dakshiṇā. The gifts given to the ṛshis and brāhmaṇas who took part were beyond ordinary counting. Gold, cattle, garments, land and food of every kind were given without limit. No one who took part went away unsatisfied.
• The scale of the rites. The yajña took in the whole range of Vedic rites, done at the highest standard, over a long time, with careful attention to every detail of the rules.
• Devas and ṛshis present. Not only brāhmaṇas of the earth came. Heavenly beings were drawn by the brightness of the event, so great were the king’s devotion and the scale of the rites.

The account presents this yajña as making the place sacred for ever. The site on the Phalgu where Gaya held his yajña became the tīrtha of Gayā. It is one of the most sacred places in all Bharatavarsha for ancestral rites (śrāddha and piṇḍadāna).

Told by Śamaṭha

The Mahābhārata gives the account of Gaya’s yajña through the ṛshi Śamaṭha. He was at the place during the Pāṇḍavas’ tīrtha-yātrā (pilgrimage), and he told Yudhishṭhira of Gaya’s greatness (māhātmya) and of how the tīrtha got its sacred power. Lomaśa, who led the Pāṇḍavas on this tīrtha-yātrā, used Śamaṭha’s telling to show why Gayā is so important among the tīrthas tied to the welfare of ancestors.

Gayā, the great tīrtha for ancestors

The Mahābhārata always presents Gayā as the most meritorious tīrtha for the welfare of one’s ancestors. A person who does piṇḍadāna and śrāddha at Gayā frees not only his own pitṛs (ancestors) but those of many earlier generations. The Vana Parva places Gayā among the highest tīrthas in both the Pulastya list (told to Bhīshma) and the Dhaumya list (told to Yudhishṭhira). Gaya’s yajña is the event that fixed this holiness in time. It set the tīrtha‘s great importance through one man’s tapas and dāna of extraordinary puṇya.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 95