Lakshmaṇatīrtha (Gautamī)

Lakshmaṇatīrtha · lakshmaṇa-tīrtha, “the tīrtha of Lakshmaṇa”

Lakshmaṇatīrtha is a tīrtha on the Gautamī (the Godāvarī), at the place where Lakshmaṇa bathed and worshipped Śaṅkara, Bhagavān Śiva. It is one of the tīrthas that arose when Śrī Rāma, with Sītā and Lakshmaṇa, came to the Gautamī in the Daṇḍaka forest and freed his father Daśaratha from naraka. Brahmā tells Nārada of it in the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa, in the chapter on Rāmatīrtha and the tīrthas around it. The Purāṇa names it with Sītātīrtha as able to dispel pāpas of many kinds entirely.

The setting

Brahmā tells Nārada that Śrī Rāma, in his exile, came through Citrakūṭa to the Daṇḍaka forest. When he came within five yojanas of the Gautamī, Yama had King Daśaratha drawn out of naraka, where he suffered for the deaths of three brāhmaṇas. Rāma, Lakshmaṇa and Sītā bathed in the Gautamī. Daśaratha came to them, and at first Lakshmaṇa, not knowing him, drew his bow and stood guard over Rāma; then the king made himself known. Lakshmaṇa brought iṅgudī fruits, Śrī Rāma offered a piṇḍa of iṅgudī oil-cake to his father, and Daśaratha, freed from his pāpas, rose to svarga among the devas.

Then Śrī Rāma installed Maheśvara, worshipped him with the sixteen upacāras, praised him with a stotra, and received his varas, and that tīrtha became Rāmatīrtha. Around it the other tīrthas of the account took their names: Śavatīrtha, where the body fell; Bāṇatīrtha, where the arrow fell from the hand of the merciful Lakshmaṇa; Lakshmaṇatīrtha; and Sītātīrtha.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 53

The tīrtha and its phala

The place where Lakshmaṇa bathed and worshipped Śaṅkara became Lakshmaṇatīrtha, and Sītātīrtha was named in the same way. The Purāṇa says that it is able to dispel pāpas of many kinds entirely.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 53

Sources

• Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 53