Mṛgavyādha Tīrtha

Mṛgavyādha Tīrtha · mṛga-vyādha-tīrtha, “the tīrtha of the hunter of the stag”

Mṛgavyādha Tīrtha is the tīrtha of Bhagavān Śiva as Mṛgavyādha, “the hunter of the stag”, at Pañcatīrtha, where five rivers, the eldest daughters of Brahmā, join the Gaṅgā Gautamī (the Godāvarī). Brahmā tells Nārada of it in the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa. The tīrtha gives men all they seek; it bears the fruit of svarga and moksha, and it yields the fruit of Brahmatīrtha.

The hunter of the stag

Brahmā tells Nārada, in his own words, that he created a maiden, the most beautiful in the world, and went after her, and she fled. The maiden took the form of a hind (mṛgī), and Brahmā became a stag (mṛga). To protect dharma, Śambhu became Mṛgavyādha, the hunter of the stag.

Brahmā’s five eldest daughters, Sāvitrī, Gāyatrī, Śraddhā, Medhā and Sarasvatī, went to the Gaṅgā, the great river, and Maheśvara went ahead to protect dharma. Then Hara, the hunter of the stag, took up his bow and arrows, and Īśa said to Brahmā: “I will slay you.” Brahmā desisted and gave the maiden to Sūrya.

Pañcatīrtha

The five daughters took the forms of rivers and flowed together, and they came again to Brahmā in svarga. The place where these rivers join the divine river Gaṅgā came to be called Pañcatīrtha, “the five tīrthas”. All the confluences are holy, and Sarasvatī is the chief of the five rivers. By bathing there and drinking the water one is released from all pāpas; a holy bath, the giving of dāna and whatever a man does in those rivers yields all he cherishes, and yields moksha through naishkarmya, the ceasing of action.

The tīrtha and its phala

The tīrtha of Mṛgavyādha, named after Bhagavān Śiva as the hunter of the stag, is also there. It gives all objects to men, it has the fruit of svarga and moksha, and it yields the fruit of Brahmatīrtha.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 32

Sources

• Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 32