Śukla Tīrtha (Gautamī)
Śukla Tīrtha · śukla-tīrtha, “the white tīrtha”
Śukla Tīrtha, “the white tīrtha”, is a tīrtha on the Gautamī, the Godāvarī, in the Daṇḍaka forest. There the ṛshi Bharadvāja sprinkled the dark rākshasa Havyaghna, born from the smoke of his yajña, with the water of the Gaṅgā, the true amṛta, and the rākshasa, the yūpa and every vessel of the yajña became white in a moment, freeing Havyaghna from Brahmā‘s śāpa. Bharadvāja’s yūpa stands in the middle of the river even today as the sign of that event. Brahmā tells its account to Nārada in the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa. The tīrtha gives success in every undertaking, and merely remembering it gives every cherished thing.
Bharadvāja’s yajña
Brahmā tells Nārada that the tīrtha well known as Śuklatīrtha gives men success in all their undertakings, and that by merely remembering it one attains every cherished object.
There was a ṛshi named Bharadvāja, deeply righteous and well known. His wife was Paiṭhīnasī, the ornament of a noble family. That pativratā (devoted wife) sat on the bank of the Gautamī and prepared the yajña offerings for Agni and Soma, and for Indra and Agni. While the puroḍāśa (rice cake offering) was being cooked, a terrible rākshasa, a terror to the three worlds, was born from the smoke, and he wished to devour the puroḍāśa.
Bharadvāja asked him: “Who are you, destroying my yajña in anger?” The rākshasa replied: “Know me as Havyaghna, the destroyer of the offerings. I am the eldest son of Sandhyā and Prācīnabarhis. Brahmā granted me this vara: ‘Devour yajñas as you please.’ My younger brother Kālī is strong and very terrible. I am black, my father is black, my mother is black, and so is my brother. I will destroy the yajña and cut the yūpa.”
Bharadvāja asked him to protect the yajña instead, for performing yajña was his beloved and eternal duty. The rākshasa answered that once, before the devas and dānavas, Brahmā had pronounced a śāpa on him, and when he sought Brahmā’s grace, Pitāmaha had said: “When the excellent ṛshis sprinkle you with amṛta, O Havyaghna, you will be free of the śāpa, and not otherwise.” If Bharadvāja did this, the rākshasa promised, he would gain whatever he desired.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 63
The water of the Gaṅgā as amṛta
Bharadvāja called the rākshasa his friend, and asked how amṛta, which the devas and daityas had won with great effort by churning the ocean of milk, could be within his reach. The rākshasa told him gladly that these are called amṛta:
“Sprinkle me and bathe me with these, or at least with three: the water of the Gaṅgā, ghee and gold. The water of the Gaṅgā is superior to all. It is divine amṛta.”
Filled with joy, the ṛshi took the water of the Gaṅgā in his palm with great reverence and sprinkled the rākshasa with it. He sprinkled everything belonging to the yajña as well: the yūpa, the yajña animal and the vedi. Everything became white; the rākshasa, who had been dark, became white in a moment.
Bharadvāja completed his yajña, gave leave to the ṛtvijas, and cast the yūpa into the waters of the Gaṅgā. That very yūpa stands in the middle of the Gaṅgā even today, as a sign of that event.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 63
The name and the phala
The rākshasa said to Bharadvāja: “I am going, Bharadvāja; I have been made white. Those who bathe, give dāna or perform pūjā in this tīrtha will gain their cherished desires and reap the fruit of this yajña, O muni. Their pāpas are destroyed by its mere remembrance.”
From then on the tīrtha is remembered as Śuklatīrtha, for there the rākshasa was made śukla, white.
Brahmā says that the door to svarga was kept open on the Gautamī in the Daṇḍaka forest. On both banks there are seven thousand other tīrthas, and they give every siddhi.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 63
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 63