Magadha
Magadha
Magadha is a land in the east of Bhārata. In the Vāmana Purāṇa a forest in the land of Magadha holds the āśramas of the maharshis, and it was there that the rākshasa king Sukeśī came to bow at their feet and ask what gives good in this world and the next. Bhagavān Śiva bathed in the waters of Magadhāraṇya, the daitya Prahlāda worshipped Viśveśa there on his tīrtha-yātrā, and Bhagavān Vāmana told Bharadvāja Ṛshi that at Magadha his form is Sudhāpati.
The maharshis of the Magadha forest
Pulastya Maharshi told Nārada Maharshi of Sukeśī, son of the rākshasa king Vidyutkeśi. Bhagavān Śiva, pleased with him, gave him three varas (boons): a city that moves through the sky, that he would never be conquered, and that his enemies could never slay him. Sukeśī lived in his sky-city with his people and never strayed from dharma.
Once Sukeśī went to a forest in the land of Magadha and visited the āśramas of the maharshis there. He bowed at their feet, they honoured him, and he said: “This is not my command to you; it is a request. What gives śreyas (the highest good) in this world and in the next?” The maharshis answered that the practice of dharma alone gives happiness here and hereafter. Then, question by question, they taught him the dharma of all beings, the dvīpas, oceans and narakas, the mountains, rivers and janapadas of Bhārata, good conduct and the four āśramas. Among the nineteen janapadas of the east they named Māgadha, together with Aṅga, Vaṅga, Prāgjyotisha, Videha and Tāmraliptaka.
Taught in this way, Sukeśī bowed to the ṛshis and went back to his city by the path of the sky. There he commanded all the rākshasas to keep the dharma of thirteen parts that he had heard from the munis, beginning with ahiṃsā (not harming) and truth, and they kept it with joy and grew in children, strength and wealth.
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 11–16
Holy Magadhāraṇya
When Brahmahatyā clung to Bhagavān Śiva and Brahmā‘s skull would not leave his hand, he went through many tīrthas. He bathed in the waters of Pushkarāraṇya, Magadhāraṇya and Saindhavāraṇya, and then in the tīrthas of Dharmāraṇya and Naimiśāraṇya. (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 3)
Brāhmaṇas from many places gather at Koṭitīrtha on the bank of the Sarasvatī for darśana of Rudrakoṭeśvara: the Naimishas, the Māgadhas, the Saindhavas, the Dharmāraṇyas, the Paushkareyas and many others, countless best of vipras. (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 56)
On his great tīrtha-yātrā (pilgrimage), Prahlāda, the great bhāgavata, came from Kuṇḍinapura and Śūrpāraka to Magadhāraṇya and worshipped Viśveśa there; from there he went on to Prajāmukha. (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 57)
Bhagavān Vāmana as Sudhāpati
Bhagavān Vishṇu was born to Aditi as Vāmana, and Bharadvāja Ṛshi performed his upanayana. Before Vāmana went to Bali‘s aśvamedha at Kurukshetra, Bharadvāja asked him where his tejas-aṃśas (portions of his splendour) abide, and Vāmana named the holy places of his forms one by one. Among them he said: “At Magadha they name me Sudhāpati.”
Of all these places Bhagavān Vāmana said that they are sanātana (eternal), purātana (ancient) and pavitra (holy); they give dharma, they are full of tejas and destroy pāpa (sin), and they are always to be praised. Devas, humans and sādhyas who practise darśana (seeing), sparśana (touching), kīrtana (praising) and smaraṇa (remembering) of these forms attain all four purushārthas: dharma, artha, kāma and moksha. “This is certain,” said Bhagavān Vāmana.
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 63
Sources
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 3, 11–16, 56–57, 63