Madhyameśvara (Gautamī)

Madhyameśvara · madhyama-īśvara, “the lord in the middle”

Madhyameśvara, “the Īśvara in the middle”, is Bhagavān Śiva as he dwells for ever in the middle of the Gaṅgā Gautamī (the Godāvarī), and the holy place there where he is praised. Brahmā tells Nārada of it in the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa, in the account of the Kadrū-Suparṇā confluence. When the two wives of Kaśyapa Prajāpati, Suparṇā and Kadrū, had become rivers by a śāpa (curse), the Vālakhilya ṛshis sent Kaśyapa to the place where Maheśvara dwells as Madhyameśvara. There Kaśyapa bathed and praised Śiva, and by Śiva’s vara (boon) his wives regained their own bodies.

The Vālakhilyas send Kaśyapa

Long ago the Vālakhilyas, the great ṛshis, were harassed by Indra. They gave Kaśyapa half of their tapas and asked him to beget a splendid son who would humble Indra’s pride. Kaśyapa made both Suparṇā and Kadrū, the mother of the nāgas, pregnant, and before leaving home he told them not to go anywhere, for they would receive a śāpa if they did. But when he had gone, both went to the yajña of the ṛshis on the bank of the Gaṅgā and spoiled the havis offerings, though the ṛshis forbade them many times. The brāhmaṇas pronounced a śāpa: “You will become rivers.” And Suparṇā and Kadrū became rivers.

When Kaśyapa came home and heard of it, he did not know what to do, and he told the Vālakhilyas. They said: “Go to Gaṅgā Gautamī and praise Maheśāna, and they will become your wives again. Go to that place in the middle of the Gaṅgā where Bhagavān Maheśvara dwells perpetually by the name of Madhyameśvara.”

Kaśyapa’s stotra to Śiva

Saying “So be it”, Kaśyapa bathed in the Gaṅgā and praised Maheśvara, the ruler of the devas, with sacred stotras:

• “He is the sole master of the three worlds, yet has not the least pride of possession. May that Siddhanātha, maker of the whole universe and husband of Śivā, be pleased.”
• “You alone can take away the misery of all embodied beings, moving and unmoving, who are scorched by the threefold suffering and run here and there.”
• “Even Śakra and the others cannot tell the union of Śiva with sattva, rajas and tamas. One who knows Soma (Śiva) as the doer of many wonders, and who is always devoted to giving, is ever happy.”

Śiva’s vara

Praised with these and other stotras, Bhagavān Śiva, the beloved of Gaurī, was pleased and granted Kaśyapa many varas. He said: “Your two wives, in the form of rivers, will reach the Gaṅgā, the most excellent river, and by that contact alone they will regain their own bodies.” By the grace of the Gaṅgā they became pregnant once again. Kaśyapa invited the brāhmaṇas who lived on the banks of the Gautamī, performed the sīmantonnayana rite (the parting of the hair of the pregnant wife) for his wives, and fed the brāhmaṇas.

The confluence and its phala

From then on the confluence of the two rivers is known as a tīrtha: Suparṇāsaṅgama and Kādravasaṅgama, where Maheśvara has come to dwell on the banks of the Gaṅgā. The river Kadrū is all round and the river Sauparṇikā is in the east, and the tīrtha Jaṭādhara extends from the Kadrū eastward as far as the Sauparṇikā. 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