Indreśvara

Indreśvara · indra-īśvara, “the lord of Indra”

Indra Tīrtha has other meanings too: see all meanings of Indra Tīrtha.

Indreśvara is a tīrtha on the northern bank of the Gaṅgā, the Gautamī, where Bhagavān Śiva, Śaṅkara, dwells. Across the river, on the southern bank, Bhagavān Vishṇu as Janārdana dwells at Abjaka. Brahmā names Indreśvara to Nārada in the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa, in the account of how Indra (Devendra), humbled by the daitya Mahāśani, came to the Gautamī with his wife Śacī, praised Bhagavān Śiva and Bhagavān Vishṇu, and was given a protector who rose from the water and slew his enemy. At Indra’s request the devas and ṛshis granted that the tīrthas of the two banks give moksha.

The tīrthas of the chapter

Brahmā begins by naming a group of tīrthas, Indratīrtha, Vṛshākapatīrtha, the confluence of the Phenā with the tīrtha of Hanūmanta, and Abjaka, where Trivikrama dwells, and says that a holy bath and dāna there end the return to worldly existence (saṃsāra). He says he will tell what happened on the southern bank of the Gaṅgā, and that on the northern bank is the tīrtha named Indreśvara.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 59

Indra, Mahāśani and the stotra to Śiva

Mahāśani, the mighty son of the daitya Hiraṇya, defeated Indra again and again, bound him with his elephant and gave him to his father, who kept him under guard in the nether worlds. At Bhagavān Vishṇu‘s request, Varuṇa, Mahāśani’s father-in-law, won Indra’s release, but Mahāśani mocked Indra and sent him away as Varuṇa’s servant. Indra went home in shame and told Indrāṇī everything. She counselled him to go with her to the Gautamī, flowing through the Daṇḍaka forest, and to worship Bhagavān Śiva and Bhagavān Vishṇu there, for a rite done with one’s wife bears everlasting fruit.

Indra went to the Gautamī with his wife and his guru to perform tapas to Śambhu. He bowed to the Gaṅgā, bathed, and, taking refuge in Śiva alone, sang a stotra: to the bearer of the Pināka, who creates, protects and withdraws the universe by his own māyā and is untouched by it, one, free, of the nature of non-dual knowledge and bliss; to the consort of Pārvatī, whose truth even Sanaka and the knowers of Vedānta do not know, the enemy of Andhaka. He told how the Devī, at Bhagavān Śiva’s word, became one with half of his body and let fall drops of sweat from her fingertips, and from them came dharma, Lakshmī, dāna, rain, grains, the Vedas, the Purāṇa, the tīrthas, the yajñas and every good thing of the world. He ended with a namaskāra to the one beautiful body of Śiva and Śakti.

Bhagavān Śiva appeared and asked what Indra sought. Indra asked for the strength to conquer his enemy. Bhagavān Śiva answered that the enemy could not be slain through him alone, and told Indra to worship Janārdana Nārāyaṇa with his wife, beside Āpastamba, the ṛshi devoted to Mukunda, on the southern bank. Indra bathed at the confluence of the Phenā and praised Bhagavān Vishṇu there with Vedic mantras and tapas. By the grace of Śiva, Vishṇu and the Gaṅgā, a being rose from the water bearing the forms of both Śiva and Vishṇu, holding the triśūla and the cakra. He went to the nether worlds and slew Mahāśani. He is Abjaka, “born of water”, also called Vṛshākapi, and he became Indra’s friend.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 59

Indra’s request and the phala

Indra told the devas: “On the two banks of the river there is Śaṅkara in Indreśvara, and on the other side Bhagavān Janārdana in Abjaka. Vishṇu as Trivikrama sanctifies the Daṇḍaka forest, and whatever tīrthas lie between grant everything meritorious.” He asked that these phalas be given, and the devas and ṛshis said, “It will be so”:

  • Merely by bathing here, all attain moksha together with their pitṛs of five generations.
  • Whatever is given here to one who asks, even as little as a sesame seed, gives the giver everlasting fruit, grants every desire and gives moksha.
  • This account of Vishṇu and Śambhu brings wealth, fame, long life, health and puṇya, and gives moksha through knowledge and the holy dip.
  • Those who read or hear the glory of this tīrtha gain puṇya and the remembrance of Śiva and Vishṇu, which destroys every pāpa.

On the northern bank of the Gautamī there are seven thousand tīrthas that give moksha, fit to be resorted to by devas, ṛshis and siddhas.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 59

Sources

  • Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 59