Varāha Tīrtha (Gautamī)

Varāha Tīrtha · varāha-tīrtha, “the tīrtha of Varāha”

Varāha has other meanings too: see all meanings of Varāha.

Varāha Tīrtha is a tīrtha at the Gaṅgāsravaṇa, the flowing place of the Gaṅgā, near Mount Brahmagiri on the Gautamī, well known in the three worlds. It bears the name of Bhagavān Vishṇu in his Varāha form. Brahmā tells Nārada its account in the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa. The rākshasa Sindhusena defeated the devas and carried Yajña, the yajña itself, down to Pātāla, and the earth was left without yajña. Bhagavān Vishṇu took the form of a Varāha (boar) holding the śaṅkha, cakra and gadā, went down to Rasātala by the path by which the Gaṅgā had reached it, slew the rākshasas and dānavas there and came up with Yajña in his mouth. At the Gaṅgāsravaṇa he washed his limbs in the Gaṅgā, and the place became known as Varāhakuṇḍa. Varāha Tīrtha is the holiest of tīrthas and grants every desire: a bath and dāna there give the fruit of all yajñas, and one who stays there and remembers his ancestors frees his pitṛs from every pāpa.

Nārada’s request

Nārada says to Brahmā: “My mind is not satisfied by the accounts you have told. It longs to hear the puṇya (merit) of each tīrtha separately. First tell me in proper order how the Gaṅgā was brought by the brāhmaṇa, and then the puṇya of each tīrtha with its accounts.”

Brahmā answers: “I cannot tell in full the merit, greatness and importance of every tīrtha, nor could you hear all of it. Still I shall tell something. Listen attentively, O Nārada. Bowing to the three-eyed Bhagavān Śiva, I shall speak briefly of the tīrthas told by the ṛshis and in the words of the Vedas.” The place where Bhagavān Śiva, the three-eyed, revealed himself is the tīrtha named Tryambaka, which grants both bhukti (enjoyment) and mukti (moksha). Another tīrtha is Varāha, well known in the three worlds. “I shall describe it, and how the name of Vishṇu came to be joined with it.”

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 9

Sindhusena carries off Yajña

Long ago a rākshasa well known by the name Sindhusena harassed and defeated the devas. He carried off Yajña and went to Pātāla, the nether region, and with Yajña gone the earth was left without yajña. When yajña perishes there is neither this world nor the next, and that was the state of things then. Pursuing the enemy, the devas entered Pātāla, but even with Indra at their head they could not conquer him.

They went to Bhagavān Vishṇu, the Purāṇa-Purusha, the primeval Person, and told him of the rākshasa’s deed, the utter destruction of yajña. Bhagavān Vishṇu said: “Taking the body of a Varāha, with the śaṅkha, the cakra and the gadā in my hands, I shall go to Pātāla, slay the chief asuras and bring back the holy Yajña. Let the devas go to svarga. Let the fever of your minds leave you.”

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 9

Bhagavān Varāha in Rasātala

By the very path by which the Gaṅgā had reached the nether regions, the cakra-bearing Bhagavān Vishṇu hurried down to Rasātala, breaking through the earth. In the form of a Varāha he slew the rākshasas and dānavas who lived in Rasātala and held the great Yajña in his mouth. Then Bhagavān Varāha, the enjoyer of yajñas (Yajñabhoktā), conqueror of enemies, came out of Rasātala by the same path by which he had entered.

The devas were waiting for Hari on Mount Brahmagiri. Coming out by that path, he came to the Gaṅgāsravaṇa, and there, O Nārada, he washed his blood-stained limbs with the water of the Gaṅgā. Therefore the place became known as Varāhakuṇḍa.

Hari, the best of the devas, placed before the devas the Yajña he had kept in his mouth; so Yajña was born from his mouth. Since then the sacred ladle is called the chief part of the yajña, and its form became that of a boar.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 9

The rite and the phala

• Varāha Tīrtha is the holiest of tīrthas and grants every desire.
• Bathing (snāna) and giving dāna there give the fruit of all yajñas.
• If anyone stays there and remembers his ancestors, or does any act of puṇya, his pitṛs are freed from every pāpa (sin) and go to svarga.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 9

Sources

• Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 9