Nimnabheda
Nimnabheda · nimna-bheda, “the breaking of what is low”
Nimnabheda is a tīrtha on the northern bank of the Gaṅgā, the Gautamī, famous in the three worlds and destroyer of all pāpas (sins). It is also called Ailatīrtha, Purūravas-tīrtha and Vāsishṭha. Brahmā tells its account in the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa: here King Purūravas, son of Ilā, grieving for the apsarā Urvaśī, was brought back to steadiness by his purohita Vasishṭha Maharshi, took refuge in Īśvara and the Gautamī, and performed many yajñas on an island in the river, which became the Vedadvīpa and Yajñadvīpa. What was low in the king, his excess of passion, was broken by Vasishṭha and the Gaṅgā, and so the tīrtha is called Nimnabheda, “the breaking of what is low”. Merely remembering it dispels pāpas.
Purūravas and Urvaśī
King Purūravas was highly virtuous, and he loved Urvaśī; who, the Purāṇa asks, is not enchanted on seeing beauty? Urvaśī came to where the king was and lived with him, taking only a little ghee as her food. The king accepted her condition: she would stay with him only as long as she did not see him unclothed. Once in the night, while she lay asleep, something drew the king from his bed without a cloth. Urvaśī saw him and left that very moment.
The king had gone to battle, conquered his enemies, and gone again to the world of the devas. When he returned, he heard from his purohita Vasishṭha that Urvaśī had gone. He was overcome. He did not perform homa, did not take food, and neither saw nor heard anything, until he was near death from grief.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 81
Vasishṭha’s counsel
Then Vasishṭha enlightened the king with words full of reason: “O great king, she is gone from you; do not grieve. Let not the arrows of Kāma touch you in this state. You do not know the hearts of women; who in the world has not been deceived by them? Who has not been struck down by Kāla (Time)? Which suppliant has been treated with honour? Who has not been set whirling by glory and splendour? Women are like things seen in dreams and in māyā; how can they bring happiness? Be steady, knowing this. Except Śaṅkara, Vishṇu and the Gautamī, there is no other refuge in the three worlds for the miserable.”
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 81
The pūjā in the Gautamī and the Vedadvīpa
Hearing this, the king firmly put an end to his sorrow. Standing in the middle of the Gautamī, the virtuous Aila propitiated Bhagavān Śiva, Bhagavān Vishṇu, Brahmā, Bhāskara (Sūrya), the Gaṅgā and the devas with great effort. Brahmā adds: what a plight befalls the creature who, under the power of Kāla and in adversity, does not resort to tīrthas and devatās!
So the king took Īśvara as his only refuge. Full of śraddhā (faith), eager to serve the Gautamī and turned away from worldly pleasures, he performed many yajñas with the ṛtvijas, with plentiful dakshiṇā. Therefore that island in the river came to be called Vedadvīpa, “the island of the Vedas”, and Yajñadvīpa, “the island of yajñas”. One who visits the Vedadvīpa becomes learned in the Vedas. Urvaśī always comes there on every full-moon night (paurṇamāsī). One who goes round that island in pradakshiṇā has, as it were, gone round the whole ocean-girt earth.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 81
The names of the tīrtha
The tīrtha should be known as Ailatīrtha, Purūravas-tīrtha, Vāsishṭha and Nimnabheda. While Aila ruled, nothing was lacking (nimna, “low”) in any holy rite, and what was low in him with regard to Urvaśī, his excess of passion for her, was broken (bheda) by Vasishṭha and the Gaṅgā. Therefore it is called Nimnabheda.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 81
The rite and its phala
The Brahma Purāṇa gives these fruits of Nimnabheda:
- Merely remembering it dispels pāpas.
- A person of puṇya (merit) who remembers the Vedas or performs yajñas there obtains the fruit of the great Vedic yajñas.
- It fulfils all desires, for things seen in this world and unseen in the next.
- A holy bath and dāna (gifts) there give the benefit of all yajñas.
- One who bathes in Nimnabheda and has darśana of these devas, whom Purūravas propitiated, will never have anything low or base here or hereafter; rising above all, he rejoices in svarga like Indra.
They say there are seven hundred tīrthas of puṇya there.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 81
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 81