Yakshiṇī-saṅgama
Yakshiṇī-saṅgama · yakshiṇī-saṅgama, “the confluence of the Yakshiṇī”
Yakshiṇī-saṅgama is the tīrtha where the river Yakshiṇī joins the Gaṅgā, the Gautamī (the Godāvarī). The Yakshiṇī was once Pippalā, the sister of Viśvāvasu, who became a river by the śāpa of the ṛshis and was freed when her brother made her join the Gautamī. The deity there is Yaksheśvara. Beside it is the place where Bhagavān Śiva, with the Devī, was pleased with Viśvāvasu: the greatest Śaiva tīrtha, also known as Durgātīrtha. Brahmā tells Nārada its account in the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa. Yakshiṇī-saṅgama gives all benefits, and bath and dāna there give every cherished desire.
Pippalā becomes the river Yakshiṇī
Viśvāvasu had a sister named Pippalā. She went to the satra (a long yajña) of the ṛshis who lived on the bank of the Gautamī. Seeing the ṛshis feeble and wasted by their observances, she laughed with great arrogance, daring to laugh at her elders. Then she repeated the yajña calls firmly, “Let there be Vaushaṭ, let there be Śraushaṭ,” but with the wrong svara (accent). Therefore the ṛshis pronounced a śāpa (curse) on her: “Become a flowing river.” So she became the river famous as Yakshiṇī.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 62
Viśvāvasu frees his sister
Viśvāvasu honoured the ṛshis and the three-eyed Bhagavān Śiva, and by making the river join the Gautamī he freed his sister from the śāpa. From then on that tīrtha is remembered as Yakshiṇī-saṅgama.
The place where Śambhu, together with Śivā, was pleased with Viśvāvasu is the greatest Śaiva tīrtha, the tīrtha of Bhagavān Śiva, and it is also well known as Durgātīrtha.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 62
Rites and their phala
- Yakshiṇī-saṅgama gives all benefits; bathing there and giving dāna fulfil all cherished desires.
- Merely bathing at the place where the deity is Yaksheśvara gives the fruit of a Satrayāga, a long yajña. Yaksheśvara, by granting his darśana, gives both bhukti (worldly enjoyment) and moksha.
- The Śaiva tīrtha, Durgātīrtha, dispels all pāpas and destroys every evil destiny and adversity. It is the essence of all the important tīrthas, praised by the best of the ṛshis, and it gives every siddhi to men.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 62
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 62