Pratishṭhāna is an ancient and sacred city on the bank of the Godāvarī river. It is identified with the present-day city of Paithan in Maharashtra. In the Manohara Khaṇḍa of the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa (Chapter 11), it is the place to which the brāhmaṇa Nṛsiṃha of Kamalapura is divinely sent for his Caitra snāna (holy bath). There he bathes at the Rāmahrada, Rāma’s sacred lake on the Godāvarī, where Bhagavān Rāma appears in subtle presence on Caitra Navamī.

The city and its sacred geography

Pratishṭhāna stands on the southern bank of the Godāvarī, one of the seven great sacred rivers of Bhāratavarsha. The Godāvarī is honoured as the Dakshiṇa-Gaṅgā (the Gaṅgā of the South). It carries the same sanctity as the northern Gaṅgā and is the main pilgrimage river of the Deccan.

In history, Pratishṭhāna was the capital of the Sātavāhana dynasty and one of the most important cities of ancient Dakshiṇāpatha (the Deccan). In the sacred geography, it is a tīrtha on the Godāvarī linked with Bhagavān Rāma’s presence.

The Rāmahrada

The Rāmahrada (Rāma’s lake or sacred pool) is the tīrtha in the city that the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa describes. The word hrada means a lake or deep pool. It is the place where:

Bhagavān Rāma appears in presence on Caitra Navamī, so that it is a site of yearly divine appearance.
The brāhmaṇa Nṛsiṃha of Kamalapura took his Caitra snāna.
Three piśācas (restless spirits) were freed, through the drops of sacred water of Rambhā together with the transfer of Nṛsiṃha’s puṇya (merit).

Bhagavān Rāma on Caitra Navamī

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa presents the Rāmahrada of Pratishṭhāna as one of the places where Bhagavān Rāma appears in divine presence on Caitra Navamī, the day of his birth. This fits the teaching on the greatness of the month of Caitra in Chapter 10: the tīrtha-devatās (the devas of the tīrthas) live in outside waters during Caitra. At the Rāmahrada, Bhagavān Rāma himself, and not only a presiding deva, is present on Navamī.

Sources

Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Manohara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 11 (Rāmahrada and the Caitra snāna of Nṛsiṃha); Chapter 10 (the greatness of the month of Caitra)