Gītā-saṅgama
Gītā-saṅgama · gītā-saṅgama, “the confluence of the Gītā”
Gītā-saṅgama is the confluence (saṅgama) where the river Gītā, “Song”, joins the Gaṅgā, the Gautamī. It is one of three holy confluences that arose when King Ila, who had become the woman Ilā, bathed in the Gautamī and regained his manhood by the grace of Bhagavān Śiva and Devī Gaurī: the arts the Yakshiṇī Samā had taught Ilā flowed out of her body as three rivers, the Nṛtyā (Dance), the Gītā (Song) and the Saubhāgyā (Conjugal felicity). Brahmā tells Nārada the account in the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa. A holy bath and dāna (gifts) at these three confluences give the kingdom of the devas.
How the river Gītā arose
King Ila of the family of Vivasvān, the Ikshvāku line, went hunting on the Himālaya and took over the jewelled cave of Samanyu, lord of the Yakshas, killing the Yakshas who came to drive him out. To humble him, Samanyu’s wife, the Yakshiṇī Samā, took the form of a hind and drew the king into Umāvana, the forest of Umā. Long before, at Devī Pārvatī’s request, Bhagavān Śiva had ruled that every man who entered it, except Śiva himself, Gaṇeśa, Kārtikeya and Nandin, would become a woman. So Ila became Ilā.
Samā told Ilā not to strive to regain manhood, and taught her all the arts that befit a woman: dance, song, graceful charm, elegance and playful ways. Ilā mastered them and lived in Umāvana, singing and dancing. Budha, the son of Soma, saw her dancing, made her his wife, and from them was born Purūravas, the founder of the Candravaṃśa. When Purūravas learned of his mother’s sorrow, Budha told him that the śāpa would end only by the grace of Śambhu and Umā, who dwell always at the Gautamī. Budha, Ilā and Purūravas came to the Gautamī, bathed, performed tapas and each praised Devī Gaurī and Bhagavān Śaṅkara.
Devī Gaurī said “So be it”, and Bhagavān Śiva said: “Let this king regain his manhood merely by taking a holy plunge here.” As Ilā took her holy dip, water flowed out of her body. Everything she had received from the Yakshiṇī, dance, song, graceful charm and the rest, entered the waters of the Gaṅgā with that flow, and three rivers issued forth: the Nṛtyā, the Gītā and the Saubhāgyā. These too joined the Gaṅgā, and the three confluences are very holy.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 38
The phala
- A holy bath and dāna at the three confluences, the Nṛtyā-saṅgama, the Gītā-saṅgama and the Saubhāgyā-saṅgama, give the reward of the kingdom of the devas.
- The confluences are among the sixteen thousand tīrthas that arose on both banks of the Gautamī where Ila performed his yajñas, where he met his sons after regaining manhood, and where the rivers born of the Yakshiṇī’s gifts joined the Gaṅgā. Bhagavān Śambhu is called Ileśvara there. A holy bath, dāna and the like in these tīrthas give the fruit of all yajñas.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 38
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 38