Vañjarā-saṅgama
Vañjarā-saṅgama · vañjarā-saṅgama, “the confluence of the Vañjarā”
Vañjarā-saṅgama is the tīrtha where the river Vañjarā joins the Gaṅgā, the Gautamī, on its southern bank. It is the meeting of the Gaṅgā of the nether worlds with the Gaṅgā of the mortal world. Brahmā tells Nārada its account in the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa. Garuḍa, made a slave to the nāgas through his mother Vinatā‘s slavery to Kadrū, was asked to carry Kadrū’s sons to see Sūrya; flying near the sun, he let them be scorched, and they fell on the island Vīraṇa, seized by old age. At Kadrū’s word Garuḍa brought the water of the Gaṅgā from Pātāla and sprinkled it on them, and Indra‘s clouds rained, and the nāgas were revived. That water became the river Vañjarā, with amṛta flowing along with it. Vañjarā-saṅgama is well known in the three worlds and frequented by ṛshis, siddhas and rājarshis; no tīrtha equals it, and learned men count a hundred and twenty-five thousand tīrthas there.
Garuḍa’s lament
Brahmā tells Nārada that the tīrtha named Vañjarā-saṅgama is well known in the three worlds and always frequented by ṛshis, siddhas and rājarshis.
Long ago the bird Garuḍa had become a slave to the nāgas. Because of his mother’s slavery his mind was deeply troubled. Once, alone in a quiet place, he sighed and thought: “Only they are blessed in this world, only they have puṇya, who are free from servitude to others and from misery. They are happy; they sing, sleep and laugh; they are masters of their own bodies. Fie on those who live under another’s control!”
Troubled, he went to his mother and asked her: “Mother, by whose fault have you become a slave? Was it my father’s fault, or mine, or someone else’s? Tell me.”
Vinatā answered her beloved son, the younger brother of Aruṇa: “It is no one else’s fault, but my own. I myself said: ‘She whose word proves false shall become the slave of the other.’ I disputed with Kadrū, and she defeated me by deceit. Dear child, fate is all-powerful; what does it not do? So I became Kadrū’s slave, and when I became a slave you too became a slave, O son of a brāhmaṇa.” Garuḍa fell silent, deeply grieved, and said nothing more to his mother.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 89
The nāgas scorched near Sūrya
Seeking the welfare of her own sons, Kadrū once said to Vinatā, mother of the birds: “Your son goes freely to bow to Sūrya. Though you are a slave, you are greatly blessed in the three worlds.” Vinatā, hiding her sorrow, asked why Kadrū’s sons did not go to see Sūrya. Suparṇa (Garuḍa) carried the serpents and Vinatā carried Kadrū, and Kadrū, delighted, said: “Let Garuḍa take my sons to the abode of the devas.” Then she said to Garuḍa, who stood humbly before her: “My sons wish to see Haṃsa, Sūrya, the guru of the three worlds. After bowing to Sūrya they will come back to my abode. O Vinatā, take my sons to the sphere of the sun every day.”
Vinatā, trembling, said to Kadrū that she herself could not do it, but her son would carry them to see Sūrya and return. She told her son the wish of the nāgas, and Garuḍa said, “So be it. Let the serpents mount me.” The host of serpents rode on Garuḍa, king of birds, and slowly came near the place of Sūrya. Scorched by the fierce heat, they cried: “Turn back, O wise one! Obeisance to Sūrya! Enough of our wish to see his abode. We are burned by his splendour, O Garuḍa.” But Garuḍa said, “I shall show Sūrya to you all,” and sped through the sky towards the sun. Hundreds and thousands of the serpents fell, their bodies burned and scorched, on the island Vīraṇa.
Hearing the cries of her fallen sons, Kadrū came in great agitation to console them and said to Vinatā: “Your son has done a grave wrong; there is no way to undo it. If Kaśyapa of great brilliance were here we would be free of this affliction. As it is, how can my sons find peace?”
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 89
Vinatā’s rebuke and the water from Pātāla
Vinatā was frightened and said to her son: “This does not befit you, son. The elders say it is right to behave humbly. Good men should never act with treachery, even towards enemies. The moon shines alike on the learned brāhmaṇa and on the lowest-born. Only base men, who cannot act openly and by strength, harm others by fraud.”
Then she asked Kadrū: “How can peace return to your sons? They are seized by old age (jarā). Tell me the remedy, and I will do it.” Kadrū said: “There is water of the Gaṅgā in the nether worlds (Pātāla). If my sons are sprinkled with it they will have peace.”
In a moment Garuḍa brought water from Pātāla and sprinkled it on the serpents. Then he said to Indra, Śatakratu, who had performed a hundred yajñas: “Let the clouds rain here; they are the helpers of the three worlds.” The clouds rained, and the serpents became happy. The Gaṅgā water brought by Garuḍa from Pātāla revived them and removed their sorrow of old age, for it was the water of the Gaṅgā. The place where the serpents were showered with it is the land of the nāgas, and the place from which Garuḍa brought the water is Pātāla. That water of the Gaṅgā destroys all the pāpas of people.
To destroy the grief of old age it became the river Vañjarā, with amṛta flowing along with it, on the southern bank of the Gaṅgā.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 89
The phala
- The Vañjarā and its confluence dispel old age, poverty and distress of mind, and prevent bodily pain.
- “If there is a confluence of the Gaṅgā of the nether worlds with the Gaṅgā of the mortal world, how can it be described?” Merely by remembering it every pāpa (sin) vanishes; no one can tell the fruit of bathing and giving dāna there.
- Learned men say there are one hundred and twenty-five thousand tīrthas there. They give all riches and dispel all pāpas.
- There is no tīrtha anywhere equal to Vañjarā-saṅgama. Merely by remembering it every adversity is destroyed.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 89
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 89