Devatīrtha (Gautamī, northern bank)

Devatīrtha · deva-tīrtha, “the tīrtha of the deva”

Deva-tīrtha has other meanings too: see all meanings of Deva-tīrtha.

Devatīrtha is a tīrtha on the northern bank of the Gaṅgā, the Gautamī, where Bhagavān Śiva, Śambhu, the ruler of the devas, appeared in person to the brāhmaṇa boy Devāpi. Devāpi’s father Upamanyu, the purohita of King Ārshṭisheṇa, had been carried off to the netherworlds with the king and his queen by the dānava Mithu, who broke the king’s aśvamedha. The boy sought his father from the ṛtvijas, from Agni, from the devas and from the Vedas, and at the word of the Vedas he came to the Gautamī and praised Bhagavān Śiva. Bhagavān Śiva granted his vara and sent Nandin with his divine śūla; Nandin slew Mithu and brought the captives home, and the aśvamedha was completed on the Gautamī. The chapter’s printed heading calls the place Ārshṭisheṇatīrtha. Devatīrtha destroys every pāpa and grants every siddhi, and fifteen thousand one hundred and eight tīrthas arose on both banks. Brahmā tells Nārada the account.

The broken aśvamedha

Brahmā tells Nārada that there was a king well known as Ārshṭisheṇa, endowed with every good quality. His wife was Jayā, like a second Lakshmī. His son Bhara was intelligent and dear to his father, skilled in dhanurveda (archery) and the Vedas, and Bhara’s wife was the beautiful and famed Suprabhā. King Ārshṭisheṇa placed the kingdom in his son’s charge and, through his purohita, took dīkshā (initiation) for an aśvamedha, meaning to perform it on the banks of the Sarasvatī.

The king was initiated by the ṛtvijas and by leading ṛshis devoted to the Vedas and śāstras. Then, in the presence of the brāhmaṇas and the sacred fires, Mithu, the valiant and evil-minded king of the dānavas, destroyed the yajña and carried off the king, his wife and the purohita, and went swiftly to the netherworlds. With the king gone and the yajña destroyed, the devas and the ṛtvijas went back to their own places.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 57

The boy Devāpi

The purohita’s son was a boy named Devāpi. He saw his mother but not his father, and he was greatly distressed. He said: “Mother, where has my father gone? I do not wish to live without him. Tell me the truth. Fie on the life of those who are without their fathers. If you do not tell me, I will enter water or fire.” His mother said: “The king, his wife and your father the purohita were carried off to the netherworlds by a dānava.” Devāpi asked: “Where was he taken? By whom? How? During which rite? Who were watching? Where does the dānava live?” She answered: “While the devas watched, before the sacred fires and the brāhmaṇas, Mithu the daitya carried off the king, who had been initiated for the yajña, to the netherworlds, with his wife and the purohita.”

Devāpi remembered his duty. “I will see the devas, Agni, the ṛtvijas and the asuras,” he resolved. “My father must be sought among these and nowhere else.” He went to Bhara, the king’s son, and said: “All who were taken to the netherworlds must be brought back by me, through the power of tapas, brahmacarya, sacred rites and observances. What use is the man, alive or dead, who does not answer a terrible insult? Rule the whole earth as your father Ārshṭisheṇa did, and protect my mother until I return with my task done. O Bhara, permit me to go.” After careful thought Bhara said: “Achieve your purpose. Go happily, and do not worry at all.”

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 57

The search through the ṛtvijas, Agni, the devas and the Vedas

Meditating with devotion on the feet of Indra, king of the immortals, Devāpi sought out the ṛtvijas, bowed to each and, with joined palms, said: “You should have protected the yajña, the initiated yajamāna, the purohita and the yajamāna’s wife. While you all watched, the yajña was destroyed and they were carried off. This is not right. You must return them unharmed, O leading brāhmaṇas, or you will deserve a śāpa.”

The ṛtvijas said: “In a yajña Agni is worshipped first; Agni presides here. We are only the servants of the sacred fires and do not know these things. The carrier of havya is the giver, the enjoyer, the remover and the maker.” Devāpi turned to Agni, worshipped him and told him all. Agni said: “Like the ṛtvijas, I too am a servant of the devas. I carry havya to them. They are the enjoyers, and so they are the protectors too.” Devāpi said: “I shall call the devas and give each his share of the havis (offering). So you go quickly to them.”

Devāpi went to the devas, bowed to each, and told them what the ṛtvijas and Agni had said, and of the śāpa. The devas said: “When we are invoked by the ṛtvijas with Vedic mantras in the proper order, we partake of our shares of the havis; otherwise we are not free, O best of brāhmaṇas. We are ever followers of the Vedas, moved by the Vedas and dependent on them. Tell this to the Vedas.”

Devāpi purified himself and invoked the Vedas with care, and by the power of his dhyāna (meditation) and tapas the Vedas appeared before him. Bowing to them again and again, he told them what the ṛtvijas, Agni and the devas had said. The Vedas said: “We too are dependent, dear one. We follow Īśvara and are under his control. He is the support of the whole universe, yet supported by none. He is stainless, the one abode of all power, the storehouse of all riches, Mahādeva, the maker, Maheśvara, the destroyer. We are in the form of words and sounds; we speak and we know, and it is our duty to tell you what you ask. We know who carried them off, his name, his city and his power. We know that they have been eaten, yet they are not destroyed. We know too how you may gain the power to bring them back, whom to propitiate and where.”

Devāpi said: “O Vedas, tell me this alone, at once, fully and truly. I shall bring back all who were taken to the netherworlds. Namaskāra to you all.” The Vedas said: “O Devāpi, go to the Gautamī and praise Maheśvara there. The merciful Bhagavān Śiva, when pleased, will surely give you what you desire. King Ārshṭisheṇa, his chaste wife Jayā and your father Upamanyu all live in the netherworlds free from illness, through the varas of Bhagavān Śiva. Through the vara of Bhagavān Śiva you will slay the rākshasa Mithu and gain fame and puṇya.”

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 57

Devāpi’s stotra to Bhagavān Śiva

At the word of the Vedas the boy Devāpi went to the Gautamī. He bathed and, at the proper time, praised Maheśvara:

• “O ruler of the chiefs of the devas, I am a mere boy. You are the guru of gurus, and I have no power to praise you fittingly. Namaskāra to you, O Śambhu.”
• “The Vedas do not know you, nor the devas, nor the ṛshis, nor Brahmā, nor Vishṇu. As you are, so you are. Namaskāra to you.”
• “O Maheśvara, you protect those burdened with pāpa, the helpless, the miserable, the poor and the sick.”
• “The dwellers of svarga, worshipped with tapas, rites and mantras, give only the fruit you have ordained, O Lokeśa, ruler of the worlds.”
• “At your door even beggars become givers, and nothing they desire is lacking. You are the cause of this wondrous state.”
• “O Jagadguru, guru of the universe, at the mere utterance of the word ‘Śiva’ you protect the ignorant, those who have done pāpa, and those sunk in the ocean of naraka.”

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 57

The vara and Nandin’s victory

As he praised thus, Bhagavān Śiva, the three-eyed, appeared before him and said: “Tell me what vara you wish, O Devāpi. Enough of your sorrow, O boy.” Devāpi said: “O ruler of the universe, I wish to bring back the king, the king’s wife and my father, the guru. I wish for the death of my enemy.” Bhagavān Śiva said, “So be it,” and at the command of Śaṅkara, Devāpi obtained everything.

The merciful Śambhu called Nandin, one of his gaṇas, and sent him with his own divine śūla. Nandin went to the netherworlds, slew Mithu and the leading asuras, brought back Devāpi’s father and the others, and handed them over to Devāpi.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 57

How the tīrtha got its name

The aśvamedha of the self-possessed Ārshṭisheṇa was then performed there, on the Gautamī. Agni, the ṛtvijas, the devas, the Vedas and the ṛshis said: “O Devāpi, the place where Śambhu, ruler of the devas and of the universe, gracious to his devotees, appeared in person has become the tīrtha Devatīrtha. This tīrtha shall destroy all pāpas, it shall grant every siddhi and give puṇya, and your fame shall be everlasting.”

When the aśvamedha was finished, the devas granted them varas, and having bathed, they went content to svarga.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 57

The phala

• Devatīrtha, on the northern bank of the Gaṅgā, destroys all pāpas.
• It grants every siddhi and gives puṇya.
• After the aśvamedha, fifteen thousand one hundred and eight (15,108) tīrthas arose on both banks. A holy bath and dāna (gifts) there bring exceeding puṇya.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 57

Sources

• Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 57