Tapovana (Gautamī)
Tapovana · tapas-vana, “the forest of tapas”
Siddheśvara has other meanings too: see all meanings of Siddheśvara.
Tapovana, “the forest of tapas”, is a tīrtha on the southern bank of the Gautamī (the Godāvarī), at the place where Agni performed tapas. Brahmā names it to Nārada in the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa as the first of four very holy tīrthas on that bank: Tapovana, Nandinī-saṅgama, Siddheśvara and Śārdūla. Merely by listening to their account one is rid of all pāpa. The chapter tells how Agni, carrying the tejas of Bhagavān Śiva, became the father of the twins Suvarṇa and Suvarṇā; how, when the devas and asuras pronounced a śāpa on them, Agni came to the Gautamī at Brahmā’s word and praised Maheśvara, and Śiva turned the śāpa into glory. Between Tapovana and Śārdūla lie many tīrthas whose greatness no one can tell, and a bath and dāna there are auspicious and fulfil every desire.
Agni and Svāhā
Agni, the Hotṛ, the carrier of the offerings to the devas, took as his wife Svāhā, the beautiful daughter of Daksha. She was childless and performed tapas for a son. Agni said to her: “Children will be born, splendid lady; do not perform tapas,” and she stopped.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 58
Agni as a parrot
Time passed, and the terror of the asura Tāraka grew, for Kārttikeya was not yet born. The devas asked Agni to go to Śambhu and tell him of the danger. Agni said that no one should go where a couple are together in secret, least of all to Mahākāla, the bearer of the triśūla. The devas answered: “When there is great danger from Tāraka, you are our tāraka, the one who carries us across. The life of the good is for others. Go in another form if you must.”
Agni took the form of a parrot and went timidly to the place where Śiva was with Umā, and sat on the window sill, trembling. Śambhu smiled and said to Umā: “See, gentle lady, the parrot is Agni himself, come at the devas’ request.” Then he said to Agni: “You are known. Say nothing. Open your mouth, take this, and carry it with you,” and he placed a great measure of his tejas in Agni’s mouth.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 58
Kārttikeya and the twins
Unable to go further, Agni sat down on the bank of the Gaṅgā. He placed the greater part of the tejas in the Kṛttikās, and from it Kārttika was born. The rest he divided in two and placed in Svāhā, remembering his promise to her, and the twins Suvarṇa and Suvarṇā were born, unrivalled in beauty. Agni gave Suvarṇā in marriage to Dharma and made Saṅkalpā the wife of Suvarṇa.
Because of the mingling of the tejas, both children became unrestrained. Suvarṇa took the forms of the devas and of the husbands of chaste women, and Suvarṇā took the forms of beloved wives, among devas, asuras, ṛshis and men. The devas and asuras together pronounced a śāpa: the son would be among the faithless and go everywhere, and the daughter would be faithful to no one and go to many, even the low.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 58
Agni’s stotra and Śiva’s vara
Agni came to Brahmā in fear and asked for a prāyaścitta (expiation) for his children. Brahmā said: “Go to the Gautamī and praise Śaṅkara, and tell him everything. The children were born from the tejas of Maheśvara; Śambhu will protect his own.” Agni went to the Gaṅgā and praised Maheśvara: the creator of the universe, of cosmic form, unsullied, the first maker and the self-born; the three-eyed one who destroys as fire, creates as water and protects as Sūrya; who satisfies the devas as the yajamāna (the sponsor of the yajña), sustains beings as Vāyu, protects as Śiva, brings lasting happiness as Vishṇu and gives space to beings as the sky.
Bhagavān Śiva was pleased and granted Agni a vara. He said: “Suvarṇa, born of my tejas, shall be the purifier of the three worlds. He alone is amṛta in the world, the beloved of the devas, bhoga and moksha, the dakshiṇā, the beauty of all things and the guru of gurus. Without him all is lacking. And Suvarṇā, though restless, shall be excellent: whatever is lacking becomes complete when she looks on it; she is to be won by tapas, japa and homa; she will dwell everywhere. Suvarṇā, Kamalā, shall be holy.” Having said this, Śiva took the form of a liṅga and stayed there for the welfare of the worlds.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 58
Śārdūla slain and the tīrthas that arose
The dānava Śārdūla defeated Dharma and carried Suvarṇā off to pātāla by deceit. Agni and Dharma praised Bhagavān Vishṇu, who cut off Śārdūla’s head with his divine cakra and brought Suvarṇā back, and showed her to Maheśvara, who embraced her again and again.
The place where the cakra was washed is Śaṅkara-tīrtha, also called Vaishṇava-tīrtha and Siddha-tīrtha. Where the tears of joy of Agni and Dharma fell, a river arose, named Ānandā and Nandinī; its confluence with the Gaṅgā is sacred, Śiva is present there, and Suvarṇā is manifest there even today. She is also known as Dākshāyaṇī, Śivā, Āgneyī, Ambikā, Kātyāyanī, Īśvarī and Jagadādhārā, and she grants the desires of her devotees and adorns both banks. The place where Agni performed tapas is the tīrtha Tapovana.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 58
The phala
- Merely by listening to the account of Tapovana, Nandinī-saṅgama, Siddheśvara and Śārdūla one is rid of all pāpa.
- A holy bath and the giving of dāna in these and the other tīrthas on both banks are auspicious and give all cherished desires.
- Whoever listens to this, reads it or remembers it becomes complete in every desired respect; one who knows it and bathes there stays always rich and especially dhārmika (righteous).
Between Tapovana and Śārdūla there are many tīrthas, and no one can tell the greatness of each of them. There are fourteen thousand tīrthas on the northern bank and sixteen thousand on the southern bank, each with its own marks and name; Brahmā says he has told of them only briefly.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 58
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 58