Ṛṇamocanatīrtha
Ṛṇamocanatīrtha · ṛṇa-mocana-tīrtha, “the tīrtha of release from debt”
Ṛṇamocanatīrtha, “the tīrtha of release from debt”, also called Ṛṇapramocana, is a tīrtha on the Gautamī, the Gaṅgā of the south. There Pṛthuśravas, the son of Kakshīvān, who had turned away from marriage and the household fires, bathed and offered tarpaṇa (water offerings) at the word of the pitṛs, the ancestors, and was freed from his debt to them. Those who know the Vedas know this tīrtha, Brahmā tells Nārada in the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa. Whoever bathes or gives dāna there is freed from every debt: the debts spoken of in the Vedas and the Smṛtis, and the ordinary debts he has taken on.
How the tīrtha got its name
Kakshīvān had a beloved son named Pṛthuśravas. Out of vairāgya (detachment from the world) Pṛthuśravas did not marry, nor did he keep the sacred household fires. His younger brother was able to marry, but out of fear of pāpa (sin), the pāpa of marrying before an elder brother, he would not marry while Pṛthuśravas remained unmarried.
Then the pitṛs spoke to the elder and the younger son of Kakshīvān, to each one separately: “Let the marriage be performed, to remove the threefold debt (ṛṇa).” The elder son said: “No. What is this debt? By whom was it incurred?” The younger said: “Wise ones, out of fear of pāpa it is not proper for me to marry while I have an elder brother.”
The pitṛs spoke to both of them again: “Sons of Kakshīvān, both of you go to the holy Gautamī and bathe there. The bath in the Gautamī fulfils every cherished desire. Go to the Gautamī Gaṅgā, who makes the three worlds holy, and with śraddhā (faith) perform the bath and tarpaṇa in her waters. The Gautamī gives every cherished thing when she is seen, meditated upon or bathed in, and there is no restriction of place, time or varṇa for bathing in her. The elder brother will be freed from the pāpa of debt, and the younger will not incur the pāpa of marrying before the elder.”
So Pṛthuśravas, the elder brother, bathed in the Gautamī and offered tarpaṇa, and he was freed from his debt to the pitṛs. From then on that tīrtha has been called Ṛṇamocana.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 29
The rite and its phala
- With śraddhā, bathe in the Gautamī at Ṛṇamocana, offer tarpaṇa and give dāna. Anyone may bathe there: for bathing in the Gautamī there is no restriction of place, time or varṇa.
- By bathing or giving dāna there, a debtor is freed from all debts: those spoken of in the Vedas and the Smṛtis, and the ordinary debts he has incurred.
- Here Pṛthuśravas was freed from his debt to the pitṛs.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 29
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 29