Saura Kuṇḍa
Saura Kuṇḍa · saura-kuṇḍa, “the pool of Sūrya”
The Saura Kuṇḍa is one of the eight holy pools (kuṇḍas) at the tīrtha of the Kadrū-Suparṇā confluence on the bank of the Gautamī, the Godāvarī, where Maheśvara, Bhagavān Śiva, has come to dwell. It is the fourth pool in the list Brahmā gives to Nārada in the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa. The confluence where it lies is a little holier than Vārāṇasī; it removes every pāpa and gives the fruit of all yajñas.
The eight pools
Brahmā says there are two tīrthas, Suparṇāsaṅgama and Kādravasaṅgama, where Maheśvara dwells on the bank of the Gaṅgā, and that these holy pools are there:
The tīrtha where the pool lies
The Vālakhilya ṛshis, harassed by Indra, gave Kaśyapa Prajāpati half of their tapas and asked him to beget a splendid son who would humble Indra’s pride. Kaśyapa made his wives Suparṇā and Kadrū, the mother of the nāgas, pregnant, and went away, telling them not to leave home. They went to a yajña of the ṛshis on the bank of the Gaṅgā and, though the ṛshis forbade them again and again, spoiled the offerings. The brāhmaṇas pronounced a śāpa (curse): “You will become rivers,” and so they became.
When Kaśyapa returned, the Vālakhilyas told him to go to the Gautamī and praise Bhagavān Śiva, who dwells in the middle of the Gaṅgā as Madhyameśvara. Kaśyapa bathed in the Gautamī and praised Maheśvara with stotras, as the sole master of the three worlds, free of all pride of possession, Siddhanātha, maker of the universe and husband of Śivā, who alone dispels the threefold misery of beings. Pleased, Bhagavān Śiva granted him the vara that his wives, in the form of rivers, would reach the Gaṅgā and by that touch regain their own bodies; and by the grace of the Gaṅgā they became pregnant once again. Kaśyapa performed their sīmantonnayana rite and fed the brāhmaṇas of the Gautamī’s banks. When Kadrū winked and laughed at the brāhmaṇas, they pronounced a śāpa that the eye she winked with would be split, and she became blind in one eye. Kaśyapa pacified them, and they said: “The Gautamī, most excellent of rivers, when resorted to, will protect one from thousands of wrongs.” Kaśyapa resorted to the Gautamī with his wives.
From then on the confluence of the two rivers has been a tīrtha: the river Kadrū flows all round, the river Sauparṇikā is to the east, and the tīrtha Jaṭādhara extends from the Kadrū eastward to the Sauparṇikā.
The phala
The tīrtha of the confluence is a little holier than Vārāṇasī. It removes every pāpa (sin) and gives the fruit of all yajñas.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 30
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 30