Śarabha and the Nigamodbodhaka Tīrtha

The Padma Mahā Purāṇa, in the Uttara Khaṇḍa (Chapters 201 to 205), tells a series of accounts set in Indraprastha. They show the power of the Nigamodbodhaka tīrtha (holy place), where Vedic knowledge arises even without study. It was set up by Bṛhaspati within Indraprastha. Pārvatī sends the merchant Śarabha there to gain a son. The rākshasa Vikaṭa remembers his past lives and is freed at the same tīrtha. The series ends with Vasishṭha telling King Dilīpa that he was once Śivāśharman.

Śarabha has no children, and the ṛshi Devala

In the city of Hastināpura lived a rich merchant named Śarabha. He was devoted to Vishṇu, righteous and generous. But he had no children. He went for advice to the great ṛshi Devala, who knew the causes of suffering in past lives.

Devala meditated and told him the cause. In a former birth, Śarabha’s wife had begun the vrata (vow) of worship of Pārvatī, the Gaurī vow. She had left it half-way. She had not finished the rite and had not asked leave to stop. This broken vow had cost her the fruit of children.

Śarabha was deeply troubled. He worshipped Pārvatī with sincere devotion. The devī appeared to him. She told him to go to the Khāṇḍava forest on the bank of the Yamunā, which is the site of Indraprastha. There he was to bathe at the Nigamodbodhaka tīrtha, set up by Bṛhaspati, where the Vedas become known even without study. Pārvatī promised that at that holy place his wish for a son would be fulfilled.

The rākshasa Vikaṭa

Śarabha and his wife travelled towards Indraprastha. On the road they met a fearsome rākshasa named Vikaṭa, who had been troubling all travellers. He stopped Śarabha and threatened to eat him. Śarabha pleaded with him and told him of his journey to the Nigamodbodhaka tīrtha.

As they came near the tīrtha, the holiness of the place suddenly touched Vikaṭa, and some of its holy water fell on him. At once he remembered his past lives.

In that earlier life Vikaṭa had been a very learned brāhmaṇa who sinned badly. He had taken wealth that belonged to the temple of Vishṇu and had done other wrongs against sacred duty. For this he was born as a rākshasa. The memory of his past filled him with sorrow.

Vikaṭa stood at the Nigamodbodhaka tīrtha, where Bṛhaspati had set up the power of Vedic knowledge, and his stored karma was dissolved. He gave up his rākshasa form. Now pure, he was taken in a divine vehicle to Vaikuṇṭha. The travellers whom he had troubled were also freed from their distress.

The birth of Śivāśharman

Śarabha and his wife bathed at the Nigamodbodhaka tīrtha and worshipped Vishṇu at Indraprastha. In time, by the grace of Pārvatī and the power of the holy place, a son was born to them. They named him Śivāśharman. He grew up at Hastināpura, was educated, and became a devoted servant of Vishṇu.

Śarabha’s death

Śarabha had received what he wished for. He went on worshipping Vishṇu at Indraprastha all his life. When he died, he reached Vaikuṇṭha, because he had bathed at the Nigamodbodhaka and the other holy places within Indraprastha.

Durvāsa and the rebirth of Śivāśharman

The ṛshi Durvāsa, known for his fierce temper, once met Śivāśharman and was displeased with something in his conduct. Durvāsa cursed him to fall from his place and take another birth. Through this curse Śivāśharman was reborn.

Vasishṭha tells the whole Uttara Khaṇḍa to King Dilīpa, and the account of Śarabha is part of what he tells. Vasishṭha says that Dilīpa himself was formerly Śivāśharman, reborn. By the power of Indraprastha and devotion to Vishṇu, he will again reach liberation.

Sources

• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 201
• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapters 202–203
• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapters 203–204
• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 204
• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 205