Vāruṇa Kuṇḍa
Vāruṇa Kuṇḍa · vāruṇa-kuṇḍa, “the pool of Varuṇa”
Vāruṇa Kuṇḍa, the pool of Varuṇa, is one of the eight holy pools (kuṇḍas) at the twin tīrthas of Suparṇā-saṅgama and Kādrava-saṅgama on the banks of the Gaṅgā, the Gautamī, where Maheśvara, Bhagavān Śiva, has come to dwell. Brahmā names it to Nārada, last of the eight, in the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa. The place became a tīrtha when Suparṇā and Kadrū, the wives of Kaśyapa Prajāpati, turned into rivers by the śāpa of the brāhmaṇas, regained their own bodies by touching the Gaṅgā through the vara of Bhagavān Śiva. The tīrtha is a little holier than Vārāṇasī, removes every pāpa and gives the fruit of all yajñas.
The eight kuṇḍas
Brahmā tells Nārada that at the two tīrthas of Suparṇā and Kadrū, where Maheśvara dwells on the banks of the Gaṅgā, there are also these holy pools, in the order he names them:
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 30
Suparṇā and Kadrū become rivers
The Vālakhilya ṛshis, harassed by Indra, came to Kaśyapa and gave him half of their tapas, asking him to beget a splendid son through whom Indra’s pride would be humbled. Kaśyapa agreed. He made his wives Suparṇā and Kadrū, the mother of the nāgas, pregnant, and before he went away from home he told them: “Do no wrong and go nowhere. If you go elsewhere you will surely receive a śāpa.”
When he had gone, the two went to a yajña of the ṛshis on the bank of the Gaṅgā, where the yajña-hall was crowded with brāhmaṇas. Proud of their youth and wealth, and though the ṛshis forbade them again and again, they spoiled the havis (offerings) of the yajña. The brāhmaṇas pronounced a śāpa (curse): “Since you cling to the wrong path, you will become rivers.” And Suparṇā and Kadrū became rivers.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 30
Kaśyapa’s stotra and Śiva’s vara
Kaśyapa came home, heard what had happened, and asked the Vālakhilyas what to do. They told him: “Go to the Gaṅgā Gautamī and praise Maheśāna. Go to the place in the middle of the Gaṅgā where Bhagavān Maheśvara dwells always by the name Madhyameśvara. Then they will be your wives again.”
Kaśyapa bathed in the Gaṅgā and praised Maheśvara, Deveśa, the master of the devas, with sacred stotras. He praised him as the sole master of the three worlds who has not the least pride of possession, Siddhanātha, maker of the whole universe, husband of Śivā, who alone can end the misery of all beings scorched by the threefold suffering, whose union with sattva, rajas and tamas not even Indra can describe, and as Soma of many wondrous deeds; and he said that the one devoted to dāna is always happy.
Bhagavān Śiva, the husband of Gaurī, was pleased and granted Kaśyapa many varas. He said: “Your two wives, in the form of rivers, will reach the Gaṅgā, the most excellent of rivers, and by that touch alone they will regain their own bodies.” So it happened, and by the grace of the Gaṅgā they became pregnant again.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 30
Kadrū’s eye and the tīrtha
Kaśyapa, delighted, invited the brāhmaṇas who lived on the banks of the Gautamī, performed the sīmantonnayana (the parting of the hair of a pregnant wife) for his wives and fed the brāhmaṇas as the rules direct. As they ate, Kadrū, seated by her husband, winked and laughed at them, and they pronounced a śāpa that the eye with which she had winked would be split; so Kadrū, the mother of serpents, became blind in one eye. Kaśyapa pacified the brāhmaṇas, 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 as far as the Sauparṇikā.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 30
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