Yameśvara (Gautamī)
Yameśvara · yama-īśvara, “the Īśvara worshipped by Yama”
Yameśvara is the honoured deity of Yamatīrtha on the Gautamī, in the Daṇḍaka forest. A man of self-control who bathes in Yamatīrtha and has darśana of Yameśvara makes the puṇya of his pitṛs everlasting, fruitful and increasing their fame; by bath, dāna, japa and stotra there, even pitṛs of evil deeds attain moksha.
How Yama came to worship there
Brahmā tells Nārada that Yamatīrtha increases the joy of the pitṛs and subdues pāpas entirely. Saramā, the divine dog who guarded the cows of the devas, was blamed for the theft of the yajña cows by the rākshasas, and Indra pronounced a śāpa on her to be born a dog in the mortal world. Her two four-eyed sons, the favourites of Yama, told Yama of their mother’s śāpa and asked how it might be removed. Yama went with them to his father Sūrya, who told him to bathe in the Gautamī in the Daṇḍaka forest with śraddhā and a pure mind and to praise Brahmā, Vishṇu, Sūrya and Īśa in due order.
With the dogs, Yama propitiated Sūrya and Brahmā on the southern bank, and by himself he propitiated Īśāna and Vishṇu on the northern bank. They granted the vara that removed Saramā’s śāpa, and Yama asked that those who bathe in these tīrthas obtain their desires, for their own good and the good of others.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 61
The phala
A man of self-control should bathe in Yamatīrtha and have darśana of the honoured Yameśvara: so he makes the puṇya of his pitṛs everlasting, and by bath, dāna, japa and stotra even pitṛs of evil deeds attain moksha. Brahmā says there are eight thousand and three such tīrthas there, and bath and dāna in them give everlasting puṇya. Remembering them destroys the pāpas of many births; hearing their glory brings moksha together with one’s pitṛs; reading their account frees one together with one’s whole family. One who bathes there, gives dāna with a controlled mind, offers piṇḍas and bows to these devas gains wealth, grain, fame, valour, long life, health, sons, grandsons and a beloved wife, is never parted from his kin, raises even pitṛs who are in naraka, and, remembering Vishṇu and Śiva at the time of death, attains moksha.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 61
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 61