Karkaṭa and Jarā at Gokarṇa

Chapter 222 of the Uttara Khaṇḍa of the Padma Mahā Purāṇa tells of Karkaṭa, a Bhilla (a forest-dweller and hunter), and of his wife Jarā. Jarā had been the cause of the deaths of five husbands. Karkaṭa killed her, and both of them died at the Gokarṇa tīrtha (holy place) in Indraprastha. The power of dying at that tīrtha freed them both.

Jarā and her five husbands

Jarā was a woman of terrible karma (action and its result). Five husbands, one after another, had died after marrying her.

Karkaṭa kills Jarā

Karkaṭa, a Bhilla, married Jarā and killed her. This ended at the Gokarṇa tīrtha in Indraprastha. Karkaṭa died there too.

This Gokarṇa is the abode of Bhagavān Śiva and one of the great holy places of Bhagavān Śiva. Śiva set it up at the command of Bhagavān Vishṇu when Indraprastha was consecrated.

Liberation at Gokarṇa

The holiness of dying at the Gokarṇa tīrtha in Indraprastha was stronger than the pāpa (sin) of both of them.

Jarā was freed from her terrible past. She rose in a divine form and became a sakhī (companion) of Devī Pārvatī. This was a great fruit of the grace of Bhagavān Śiva’s tīrtha.

Karkaṭa was a hunter, and a hunter’s work is the taking of life. Even so, he also reached a divine place.

Sources

• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 222