Koṭitīrtha (Gautamī)
Koṭitīrtha · koṭi-tīrtha, “the tīrtha of a crore”
Koṭitīrtha, “the tīrtha of a crore”, lies on the southern bank of the Gaṅgā, the Gautamī. Everything done there bears a crore-fold fruit, and the deity who presides there is Koṭīśvara. It arose by the puṇya (merit) of the ṛshi Kāṇva, eldest son of Kaṇva, when his sacred fire went out between two offerings and a divine voice taught him to offer into the embers. It is also called Āgneya, Kāṇva, Pautra, Hiraṇyaka and Vanisaṃjña. Brahmā tells Nārada its account in the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa. Merely remembering it frees one from all pāpas, and two crores of auspicious tīrthas are there.
Kāṇva and the quenched fire
Brahmā tells Nārada to listen with a concentrated mind. The eldest son of Kaṇva was well known as Bāhlika, and people honoured and praised him by the name Kāṇva. He was a master of the Vedas and Vedāṅgas, lived on the bank of the Gautamī, and was honoured by all the worlds. With his wife he performed yajñas such as the one printed as “Pārvāyaṇānī”, and every morning he offered homa in the sacred fire with great concentration and purity of mind.
One day, as he made ready for the homa, he poured one ladle of ghee into the well-kindled fire. He took the havis (offering) in his hand for the second āhuti, but in the meantime the fire had gone out. Kāṇva was troubled and, in great sorrow, thought it over: “Between two āhutis the sacred fire has gone out. Should I take up another fire, a Vedic (śrauta) one or a worldly (laukika) one? Where should the second āhuti be offered?”
As he thought, a divine voice spoke: “O great brāhmaṇa, you need not fetch another fire. There are small sparks here and there nearby. Offer the homa into the half-burnt twigs.” Kāṇva said, “No.” The voice spoke again: “Bold is the son of Agni. Father and son are the same. What is given to the son for his pleasure is for the pleasure of the father. One should give the son what is to be given to the father. It will bring a crore times more merit and joy.” Then the great ṛshis settled the whole of dharma on this and did as the voice said, for what is given to the son is for the father in this world: no one is as satisfied as a father when his children are benefited. “When it is given there is merit; everything shall increase a crore times. Grief of mind will cease, and great happiness will come.”
Then the voice spoke once more: “In this excellent holy place named after Kāṇva, a great tīrtha has arisen by the power of Kāṇva’s puṇya. It gives greater fruit than any other tīrtha in the three worlds. If one devoutly performs a holy bath, dāna and the like here, even a little, he will gain every fruit increased a crore times, O ṛshi. He must do these rites with a concentrated and pure mind.”
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 78
Its names
Whatever men do here, the holy bath, dāna and the rest, all of it gives a crore times its usual fruit, and so they know it as Koṭitīrtha. Where this happened, the tīrtha is also called Āgneya (of Agni), Kāṇva, Pautra (of the son), Hiraṇyaka and Vanisaṃjña. Even Vācaspati (Bṛhaspati) and the devas cannot tell its greatness.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 78
The phala
- Merely remembering Koṭitīrtha frees one from all pāpas.
- Everything there has a crore-fold merit, and every rite, however it is done, gives a crore times its fruit by the grace of the Godāvarī.
- Whoever gives a single cow to an excellent brāhmaṇa here gains the fruit of giving a crore cows.
- Land given here by one who is pure, with a mind full of faith, gives a crore-fold fruit.
- Offerings to the pitṛs (ancestors) are excellent everywhere on the banks of the Gautamī, and at Koṭitīrtha they bear endless fruit.
- Two crores of auspicious tīrthas are there, and the ṛshis know forty-nine tīrthas here.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 78
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 78