Someśvara (Somatīrtha at the Sea)
Someśvara · soma-īśvara, “the lord of Soma”
Someśvara has other meanings too: see all meanings of Someśvara.
Someśvara, “the Īśvara of Soma“, is Bhagavān Śiva at Somatīrtha, one of the tīrthas near the meeting of the Gautamī Gaṅgā with the eastern sea. There the devas and the ṛshis praised Soma with the Ṛk mantras for the sake of Indra, Soma was won for Indra, and Indra completed his hundred yajñas. Closing his account of the Gautamī, Brahmā says that perhaps only Bhagavān Vishṇu, Lakshmīpati, the husband of Lakshmī, and Bhagavān Śiva as Someśvara could describe her power in every tīrtha.
Somatīrtha
Brahmā tells Nārada that the Gautamī, honoured even by the devas, joined the eastern sea, and that Bhagavān Śiva and Bhagavān Hari revealed themselves there to the ṛshis who praised her. Along that shore he names the tīrthas: Gautameśvara, Brahmeśvara, Cakrapāṇi, Aindra-tīrtha or Hayamūrdhaka, and then another tīrtha well known as Somatīrtha, where Bhagavān Śiva is called Someśvara.
Long ago, for the sake of Indra, the devas and the ṛshis prayed to Soma with the Ṛk mantras that end in the refrain “Indrāyendo parisrava”, “O Indu, flow out everywhere for the sake of Indra”. The mantras ask Soma, the king, the protector of the creepers, to protect them, to keep away the enemy who would harm them or what is theirs, and they call on the ṛshi Kaśyapa to praise Soma with the sūktas of the ṛshis who saw the mantras. By praising Soma thus they won the Soma for Indra, the wielder of the vajra, and with it Indra completed his hundred yajñas. “Hence that tīrtha is called Somatīrtha.”
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 104
Śiva Someśvara and the glory of the Gautamī
At the end of his account of the tīrthas of the Gautamī, Brahmā says: “Who is competent to describe the Gautamī’s power in every tīrtha? Perhaps Vishṇu, Lakshmīpati, and Śiva Someśvara may be.” Other tīrthas, he says, become holy only in due time, but the Gautamī is holy for men everywhere and always, and so it is right to bow to her.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 104
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 104