Ciñcikā Tīrtha
Ciñcikātīrtha · ciñcikā-tīrtha, “the tīrtha of Ciñcika”
Ciñcikātīrtha is a tīrtha on the white mountain on the northern bank of the Gautamī, where Bhagavān Vishṇu dwells as Gadādhara, the bearer of the mace. Those who know the Vedas also call it Pavamāna, Ciñcika, Gadādhara and Koṭitīrtha. Brahmā tells Nārada its account in the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa: here the two-beaked bird Ciñcika, who in a former birth had been a learned but double-tongued brāhmaṇa, was brought by King Pavamāna to Gadādhara and the Gaṅgā, bathed, and went to svarga. The tīrtha destroys every ailment, dispels every worry and brings peace to all, and a holy rite done there gives crores upon crores of times its fruit.
The white mountain
On the excellent white mountain on the northern bank of the Gaṅgā, where Gadādhara dwells, lived a lord of birds of the Bheruṇḍa kind, named Ciñcika, who ate flesh. The mountain was full of trees bearing flowers and fruits in every season, frequented by great brāhmaṇas and adorned by the Gautamī, and Siddhas, Cāraṇas, Gandharvas, Kinnaras and devas thronged it. Near it was another mountain where no creature, two-footed or four-footed, knew illness, hunger, thirst, worry or death.
King Pavamāna and the bird
A king of the eastern land named Pavamāna, prosperous, true to kshatriya dharma and protector of devas and brāhmaṇas, came to the forest there with his army, his purohita, and his company of women, music and hunters. Weary, he rested under a tree on the bank of the Gautamī, full of birds, which was like a householder who knows dharma and shelters people of every āśrama. There he saw a stout, splendid bird with two beaks, tired and troubled, and asked: “Who are you? Here no one is distressed. From where has misery come to you?”
Ciñcika sighed and said: “No one fears me, and I fear no one. This mountain is full of fruit and flowers and dwelt in by ṛshis, yet to me it is empty. I find no happiness, no satisfaction, no sleep, no rest and no peace.” The king asked: “Here beings are satisfied with one mouth; why are you not satisfied with two beaks? What pāpa have you done, in this birth or a former one? Tell me truthfully, and I will save you from your fear.”
Ciñcika’s former life
Ciñcika said: “I was an excellent brāhmaṇa who had mastered the Vedas and Vedāṅgas, of noble birth and known for my intelligence. But I loved quarrels and always opposed the good of others. I said one thing to a man’s face and another behind him. I grieved at the prosperity of others, cheated the whole world, and was ungrateful, untruthful and skilled in speaking ill of others. I betrayed friends, masters and gurus; I was a hypocrite and ruthless, and I gave pain to many in thought, word and deed. Without a thought I parted husbands and wives, broke up communities and crossed the bounds of right conduct. I had no wish to serve the learned. In the three worlds there was no pāpī like me. So I was born with two beaks, and because I made others suffer, I suffer now, and this mountain is empty to me.”
Who is counted a brahma-slayer
Ciñcika said: “Hear further, O king. Sometimes a pāpa equal to brahmahatyā (killing a brāhmaṇa) is gained without any killing.”
- A kshatriya who, in battle or out of it, kills one who flees, one who has laid down his weapons, one who has turned away, one who sits unaware, or one who says “I am afraid”, is counted a brāhmaṇa-slayer.
- One who forgets the Vedic text he has learnt, one who addresses his superiors as “thou”, and one who insults elders and gurus are called brahmaghātaka, brāhmaṇa-slayers.
- One who speaks sweetly to a man’s face and harshly behind his back; one who thinks one thing, says another and does another; one who swears by his gurus or hates them; one who censures brāhmaṇas; one who pretends humility; and one who is evil-minded: all these are brahma-slayers.
- One who out of hatred censures the devas, the Vedas, the knowledge of the self and the assembly of virtuous brāhmaṇas is a brahma-slayer.
Ciñcika said: “Though I was such, I behaved like a good man for false prestige, pride and shame. So I became a bird. But I must have done some good deed somewhere, for I remember what I did before.”
Gadādhara and the Gaṅgā
The king asked: “By what holy rite can you be freed?” Ciñcika said: “On this same mountain, on the northern bank of the Gautamī, is the tīrtha named Gadādhara, which destroys every pāpa and, as I have heard from great ṛshis, grants every desire. Nothing but the Gautamī and Vishṇu destroys pain. I cannot reach it by my own effort; though I tried, I could not see that deity. Take me there by your grace. He knows my misery without being told; he is the ocean of compassion, and those who see him never again know the pains of saṃsāra (the round of births). Seeing him, I shall surely go to svarga.”
The king showed him Bhagavān Gadādhara and the holy Gaṅgā. Then Ciñcika praised the Gaṅgā, the purifier of the three worlds:
- “O Gaṅgā, O Gautamī, a pāpī is called so only as long as he has not seen you, the purifier of the three worlds.”
- “So lift me up, O excellent river, though I have done every pāpa. Apart from you, O river born of the lotus feet of Vishṇu, there is no other refuge anywhere for embodied beings.”
With his ātmā purified by steadfast śraddhā (faith), the Gaṅgā his only refuge, the bird bathed in her, praying silently, “O Gaṅgā, save me.” He bowed to Gadādhara and, with Pavamāna‘s leave, went to svarga at once while the dwellers on the mountain watched. Pavamāna returned to his city with his people.
The names and the phala
From then on those who know the Vedas call the tīrtha Pavamāna, Ciñcika, Gadādhara and Koṭitīrtha.
- Ciñcikātīrtha destroys every ailment, dispels every worry of men, and brings peace to all.
- It destroys every pāpa and grants every cherished desire.
- A holy rite done there gives crores upon crores of times the usual fruit.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 94
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 94