Brāhma Kuṇḍa (Gautamī)
Brāhma Kuṇḍa · brāhma-kuṇḍa, “the pool of Brahmā”
The Brāhma Kuṇḍa is one of the eight holy pools (kuṇḍas) at the tīrtha of the Kadrū-Suparṇā confluence on the bank of the Gautamī, where Maheśvara, Bhagavān Śiva, has come to dwell. Brahmā names it to Nārada in the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa.
The eight pools
Brahmā says there are two tīrthas, Suparṇāsaṅgama and Kādravasaṅgama, where Maheśvara dwells on the bank of the Gaṅgā, and that holy pools are there:
The tīrtha where the pool lies
Kaśyapa Prajāpati, at the request of the Vālakhilya ṛshis, made his wives Suparṇā and Kadrū pregnant, and went away, telling them not to leave home. They went to a yajña of the ṛshis on the bank of the Gaṅgā and spoiled the offerings, and the brāhmaṇas pronounced a śāpa (curse) that they would become rivers. On the Vālakhilyas‘ advice Kaśyapa bathed in the Gautamī and praised Bhagavān Śiva, who dwells in the middle of the Gaṅgā as Madhyameśvara. Pleased, Śiva granted him the vara that his wives, in the form of rivers, would reach the Gaṅgā and by that touch regain their own bodies. So it happened. From then on the confluence of the two rivers has been a tīrtha: the river Kadrū flows all round, the river Sauparṇikā is to the east, and the tīrtha Jaṭādhara extends from the Kadrū eastward to the Sauparṇikā.
The phala
The tīrtha of the confluence is a little holier than Vārāṇasī. It removes every pāpa (sin) and gives the fruit of all yajñas.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 30
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 30