Sāmaga Tīrtha
Sāmaga Tīrtha · sāma-ga tīrtha, “the tīrtha of the Sāman chanter”
Sāmaga Tīrtha is one of the tīrthas on the Gautamī that arose at the place of Agastya Maharshi‘s year-long yajña, where Śani (Śanaiścara), the son of Sūrya, slew the two rākshasas Aśvattha and Pippala, the sons of Kaiṭabha. Pippala had taken the form of a brāhmaṇa, a sāmaga (a chanter of the Sāmaveda), and devoured his own disciples, while his elder brother Aśvattha stood as an aśvattha tree and devoured all who touched it. When the ṛshis gave Śani the fruit of their own tapas, he let each rākshasa swallow him and burned him to ash from within with his gaze. Brahmā tells Nārada the account in the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa and names the tīrthas that arose there: Aśvattha, Pippala, Śani, Agastya, Sāttrika, Yājñika and Sāmaga, sixteen thousand and eight in all. A bath and dāna there give the fruit of all yajñas.
Agastya and the Vindhya
Brahmā tells Nārada of some other tīrthas, Aśvattha, Pippala and Mandatīrtha, in the north. Long ago, the devas urged the holy Agastya of the southern quarter to make a request of the Vindhya mountain. With a thousand ṛshis around him he went to the Vindhya, full of trees of every kind, whose countless peaks rose ever higher as it strove to surpass Mount Meru and Sūrya himself. The mountain received Agastya Maharshi, the strong-willed husband of Lopāmudrā, with great honour, together with the other brāhmaṇas. Agastya praised the mountain and, keeping the devas’ purpose in mind, said: “I am going south on a tīrtha-yātrā (journey to the tīrthas) with these ṛshis, who see the truth. Excellent mountain, give me the way, and give me your welcome. Until I return you must stay as you are; let it not be otherwise.” The mountain said, “So be it,” and Agastya Maharshi went south.
Slowly he came to the Gautamī. There he took dīkshā (initiation) for a yajña, and with the ṛshis around him he performed the yajña for a year.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 48
The rākshasas Aśvattha and Pippala
Kaiṭabha had two sons given to pāpa, rākshasas who troubled the virtuous; in the world of the devas they were known as Aśvattha and Pippala, and the text also calls them dānavas. Eager to destroy the yajña, they took the forms they wished: Aśvattha became an aśvattha tree, the holy fig, and Pippala took the form of a brāhmaṇa. Every day they harassed the brāhmaṇas. Whoever touched Aśvattha was devoured by the tree. Pippala, the younger, posed as a chanter of the Sāman and devoured his disciples. The Purāṇa adds: “That is why even today the chanters of the Sāman among the brāhmaṇas are lacking in compassion.”
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 48
Śani slays the two rākshasas
Seeing the brāhmaṇas dwindle, the wise ṛshis understood that a rākshasa was devouring them. They went to Śanaiścara, the son of Sūrya, who was performing tapas and keeping vratas on the southern bank of the Gautamī, and told him what the two rākshasas were doing. The son of Sūrya said: “I shall slay those rākshasas, brāhmaṇas, when my tapas is complete. While it is incomplete I have not the power.” The ṛshis said: “We shall give you the fruit of our tapas,” and Śani said: “It is done.”
Śani took the guise of a brāhmaṇa, went to the rākshasa in the form of the aśvattha tree and walked around him in pradakshiṇa (circling with the right side turned towards him). Taking him for an ordinary brāhmaṇa, the rākshasa swallowed him by his māyā. Inside the body, Śani looked at the rākshasa’s entrails, and under Śani’s gaze the rākshasa was burned to ash, like a mountain struck by the vajra (thunderbolt).
Then Śani went to the other rākshasa, in the form of a brāhmaṇa, and approached him humbly, as a disciple approaches a guru. As was his way, Pippala swallowed the son of Sūrya, and inside his belly Śani looked at his entrails. The moment Śani looked, the rākshasa was burned to ash. Having slain both, Śani said: “What remains to be done? Let all the ṛshis tell me.”
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 48
Śani’s varas and the Saturday rite
The ṛshis, with Agastya at their head, were pleased and granted varas to Śani, the slow-moving (manda) son of Sūrya. Pleased in turn, Śani gave varas to the brāhmaṇas:
- “On my day, Śanivāra (Saturday), those who keep all the holy observances and touch the aśvattha tree will see their tasks accomplished, and they will have no trouble arising from me.”
- “Those who bathe in the tīrtha Aśvattha will see their tasks accomplished.”
The mantra, as the Purāṇa gives it in meaning: “O aśvattha tree, at once quell the throbbing of my eyes and the throbbing of my arms, the effects of bad dreams and evil thoughts, and subdue my enemies too.”
On Saturdays one should rise early in the morning, meditate on Bhagavān Śiva, repeat this mantra and touch the aśvattha tree. In this way the ill effects of adverse grahas (planets) are removed.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 48
The tīrthas and their phala
From then on this tīrtha is known as Aśvattha and Pippala. Other tīrthas arose there in the same way: Śani, Agastya, Sāttrika, Yājñika and Sāmaga. In all, sixteen thousand and eight (16,008) tīrthas arose in this manner. Bathing there and giving dāna give the fruit of all yajñas.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 48
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 48