Pāñcāla
Pāñcāla
Pāñcāla is a land of Madhyadeśa, the middle country of Bhārata. The Vāmana Purāṇa names it among the thirteen janapadas of the middle country, and counts it among the holy places of Bhagavān Vishṇu. On his great tīrtha-yātrā (pilgrimage) the daitya Prahlāda had darśana of Pāñcālika in Pāñcāla, and Bhagavān Vāmana told his guru Bharadvāja Ṛshi that in the land of Pāñcāla he abides as the Pāñcālika deva. Darśana of that form, he said, destroys pāpa (sin) and gives all four purushārthas.
Pāñcāla in Madhyadeśa
Pulastya Maharshi told Nārada Maharshi of the rākshasa king Sukeśī, who went to the āśramas of the maharshis in a forest of Magadha to learn what gives good in this world and the next. Among the many things they taught him, the maharshis described the earth. Bhārata-varsha, they said, has nine dvīpas, and the one in which they lived is Kumāra-dvīpa. They then named its janapadas (peoples and lands) by direction. In Madhyadeśa, the middle country, there are thirteen: Matsya, Kuśaṭṭa, Kuṇi, Kuṇḍala, Pāñcāla, Kāḷī, Kosala, Vṛka, Śabara, Kauvīra, Sabhūliṅga, Śaka and Samaśaka.
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 13
Prahlāda’s darśana of Pāñcālika
Prahlāda, the great bhāgavata, went from tīrtha to tīrtha bathing, fasting and worshipping. From Avantī he went to Nishadha and served Amareśvara Mahādeva; at the Mahodaya kshetra he had darśana of Hayagrīva; he dipped in Aśvatīrtha, had darśana of Hayānana, the horse-faced, served Śrīdhara, and went on to the land of Pāñcāla. There he had darśana of Pāñcālika, the son of a hero, rich in aiśvarya (divine splendour and lordship). From Pāñcāla that master of his senses went on to Prayāga.
At the close of the yātrā Pulastya Maharshi said to Nārada Maharshi that this account of the tīrtha-yātrā of the great bhāgavata Prahlāda gives puṇya (merit), and that one who sings it, hears it or passes it on to others is freed from every pāpa.
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 57
Bhagavān Vāmana as the Pāñcālika deva
Bhagavān Vishṇu was born to Aditi as Vāmana, and Bharadvāja Ṛshi performed his upanayana. When Vāmana wished to go to Kurukshetra, where the daitya king Bali was performing the aśvamedha, Bharadvāja asked him where his tejas-aṃśas (portions of his splendour) abide. Vāmana named the holy places of his forms one by one, and among them he said: “In the land of Avantī, Vishṇu; at Nishadha, Amareśvara; in the land of Pāñcāla, the Pāñcālika deva; at Mahodaya, Hayagrīva.” Pāñcālika is also among the names of the pāpa-śamana stotra of Agastya Maharshi, which Pulastya gives in full.
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 (divine radiance) and destroy pāpa, 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, Chapters 61, 63
Sources
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 13, 57, 61, 63