Jaṭādhara Tīrtha
Jaṭādhara Tīrtha · jaṭā-dhara tīrtha, “the tīrtha of the one who bears matted locks”
Jaṭādhara is a tīrtha on the Gaṅgā, the Gautamī, that stretches all round from the river Kadrū eastward as far as the river Sauparṇikā. These two rivers were once Kadrū and Suparṇā, the wives of Kaśyapa Prajāpati, who became rivers by a śāpa and regained their bodies by touching the Gaṅgā through the vara of Bhagavān Śiva. Brahmā tells Nārada the account in the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa. The Purāṇa says this tīrtha is a little holier than Vārāṇasī; it suppresses every pāpa and gives the fruit of all yajñas.
How the place came to be
The great ṛshis called the Vālakhilyas, harassed by Indra, gave half of their tapas to Kaśyapa and asked him to beget a splendid son who would quell Indra’s pride. Kaśyapa agreed. He made his wives Suparṇā and Kadrū, the mother of the nāgas, pregnant, and before going away from home he told them not to go anywhere, or a śāpa would fall on them.
When he had gone, both went to a yajña of the ṛshis on the banks of the Gaṅgā. Proud of their youth and wealth, and though forbidden many times by the ṛshis, they spoiled the offerings of the yajña. The brāhmaṇas pronounced a śāpa: “Since you cling to the wrong path, you will become rivers.” And Suparṇā and Kadrū became rivers.
When Kaśyapa returned and heard what had happened, the Vālakhilyas told him to go to the Gautamī and praise Bhagavān Śiva where he dwells for ever in the middle of the Gaṅgā as Madhyameśvara. Kaśyapa bathed in the Gaṅgā and praised Maheśvara: the sole master of the three worlds, free of all pride of possession, Siddhanātha, maker of the universe, husband of Śivā, who alone dispels the threefold misery of embodied beings. Bhagavān Śiva, the beloved of Gaurī, was pleased and granted him many varas. He said: “Your two wives will have the forms of rivers. They will reach the Gaṅgā, and by that contact they will regain their own bodies.” By the grace of the Gaṅgā they became pregnant once again, and Kaśyapa performed the sīmantonnayana (the rite of parting the hair of a pregnant wife) and fed the brāhmaṇas of the Gautamī’s banks.
At the feast Kadrū winked and laughed at the brāhmaṇas, and by their second śāpa she became blind in one eye. Kaśyapa pacified them, and they said: “The Gautamī, most excellent of rivers, when resorted to, will protect one from thousands of wrongs.” Kaśyapa resorted to the Gautamī with his wives.
From then on the confluence of the two rivers is known as a tīrtha. The river Kadrū is all round, and the river Sauparṇikā is in the east. The tīrtha Jaṭādhara extends all round, from the Kadrū eastward as far as the Sauparṇikā.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 30
The kuṇḍas of the place
In the same place, where Maheśvara has come to dwell on the banks of the Gaṅgā at the confluences of Suparṇā and Kadrū, there are holy pools (kuṇḍas): Agnikuṇḍa, and the Raudra, Vaishṇava, Saura, Saumya, Brāhma, Kaumāra and Vāruṇa kuṇḍas.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 30
The phala
This tīrtha is a little holier than Vārāṇasī. It suppresses all pāpas and gives the fruit of all yajñas.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 30
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 30