Hayagrīva at Brahmakuṇḍa

During the pralaya (the dissolution of the world), the asuras Madhu and Kaiṭabha stole the Vedas from Brahmā. Brahmā came to Badarīkāśrama and praised Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa. Bhagavān Vishṇu then rose from a kuṇḍa (sacred pool) there in his horse-headed form, Hayagrīva. He killed the two asuras and won back the Vedas. This account is from the Badarī Kshetra Māhātmya of the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa. The pool became the Brahmakuṇḍa, and the Vedas stayed at Badarī in the form of the Sarasvatī river.

Madhu and Kaiṭabha steal the Vedas

At the time of the pralaya, all creation goes back to the first unmanifest state. The four Vedas are eternal (nitya). They are the sound form (śabda-brahman) of Bhagavān Vishṇu, and in this time they were in Brahmā’s care. The asuras Madhu and Kaiṭabha took the chance of the pralaya, when Brahmā’s power to guard them was weak, and stole the Vedas from him. Without the Vedas Brahmā could not make the world again at the start of the new kalpa (age of the world). All knowledge, all dharma and all creation were in danger.

Brahmā at Badarī

Brahmā was shaken and could not win the Vedas back alone. He came to Badarīkāśrama, the highest kshetra (sacred land) of the lasting presence of Bhagavān Vishṇu. There he offered a deep and sincere stotra (hymn of praise) to Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa. He told of his helplessness and of the loss of the Vedas. Badarīkāśrama is filled with the tapas-power of Bhagavān Vishṇu through the lasting presence of Nara-Nārāyaṇa.

Hayagrīva rises from the kuṇḍa

In answer to Brahmā’s stotra, Bhagavān Vishṇu showed himself in his Hayagrīva form, the horse-headed avatāra. He rose straight out of a kuṇḍa at Badarīkāśrama. The text describes this form as blazing with divine power: a four-armed figure with a horse’s head, shining with fierce light and carrying the weapons of Bhagavān Vishṇu. In this form Bhagavān Vishṇu is knowledge of the Vedas itself, and Hayagrīva is the supreme upholder of all śāstra and all holy sound.

Madhu and Kaiṭabha are killed

Hayagrīva killed Madhu and Kaiṭabha and won back the Vedas. This killing took place at Badarīkāśrama.

The Brahmakuṇḍa and the Sarasvatī river

After the killing, two holy things came into being.

The Brahmakuṇḍa. Brahmā declared the kuṇḍa from which Hayagrīva had risen to be the holy Brahmakuṇḍa. It is named after Brahmā’s stotra and the winning back of the Vedas. It is one of the most important tīrthas (sacred bathing places) of Badarī, and it is also called the Brahma Tīrtha.

The Sarasvatī river at Badarī. After they were won back, the Vedas took two forms. One form, the form of sound (śabda), went back with Brahmā as the base for the making of the next kalpa. The other form stayed at Badarīkāśrama as water, as the Sarasvatī river. This river at Badarī is the four Vedas themselves in the form of water. This brings great results:

• Bathing in the Sarasvatī at Badarī keeps one’s gotra (family line) unbroken.
• Touching or sipping the water of the Sarasvatī brings one’s line into direct touch with the source of the Veda.
• Japa (silent repetition of a mantra) done on the banks of the Sarasvatī gives mantrasiddhi, perfection and power in mantra.
• The great ṛshi Vyāsa himself composed the Purāṇas by the grace of this Sarasvatī at Badarī.

The Vedas can also be heard in their sound form at Badarī even in the Kali Yuga, but only by those whose minds have become pure.

Sources

• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Badarī Kshetra Māhātmya, Chapter 6