Yayāta Tīrtha (Gautamī)

Yayāta Tīrtha · yayāta-tīrtha, “the tīrtha of Yayāti”

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

Yayāta Tīrtha is a tīrtha on the southern bank of the Gaṅgā, the Gautamī (the Godāvarī), where Bhagavān Śiva is called Kālañjara. It is the place where Puru, son of King Yayāti, performed tapas to end the old age that he had taken on from his father, and where Bhagavān Śiva, pleased, destroyed that old age and freed Puru’s four brothers from their father’s śāpas. Brahmā tells Nārada its account in the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa. The tīrtha bears the names of the persons of that account: Kālañjara, Yayāta, Nāhusha, Paura, Śaukra and Śārmishṭha. From that day it destroys old age and sickness, and merely remembering it dispels untimely old age.

Yayāti and his two queens

King Yayāti, the son of Nahusha, was like a second Indra. He had two wives of noble birth and good qualities. The senior queen was Devayānī, the splendid daughter of Śukra; though a brāhmaṇa lady, she became Yayāti’s wife by the grace of Śukra. The second was Śarmishṭhā, daughter of Vṛshaparvan. Devayānī bore two sons, Yadu and Turvasu, like the sons of devas, and like Śukra in form. Śarmishṭhā bore three sons like devas, Druhyu, Anu and Puru, with the lustre of Indra, Agni and Varuṇa.

Once Devayānī came to her father in distress: “O father, scion of Bhṛgu, I am unfortunate: I have only two sons, while my servant woman has three. Thinking of this I have become very sad, O guru of the dānavas. I will die of this insult done to me by Yayāti; for an intelligent person death is better than injured honour.”

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 76

Śukra’s śāpa and its softening

Śukra was angered at his daughter’s words. He came quickly to Yayāti and pronounced a śāpa: “O great king, you are proud of your handsome looks, and so my daughter has been treated thus. Therefore you will become old.” He described that old age: overwhelmed by sense objects he cannot enjoy and cannot give up, sighing and gasping, his mind confused, still longing for pleasures. “Old age alone is death to embodied beings while they live. Quickly reach that unbearable old age.”

With joined palms Yayāti answered: “I have committed no offence and no pāpa. Only evildoers should be punished by the noble. Why do you pronounce a śāpa on me, though I go on performing pious rites? Devayānī has spoken of me without cause. If even the learned are angry with the blameless, what fault is there in fools whose minds are scorched by hatred?” Then Śukra remembered how his daughter had often been fierce and done unpleasant things to the king by day and by night. Saying, “My anger has gone,” he said: “I never speak falsehood, knowingly or unknowingly. But I shall turn this śāpa into a blessing: I grant you this vara, that you may pass this old age to any one of your sons you wish.” Yayāti asked one thing more: “Let only that son be king who devoutly takes on my old age, and let me pronounce a śāpa on the son who refuses.” Śukra, the son of Bhṛgu, said, “Let it be so.”

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 76

The sons and Puru’s gift

Yayāti called his eldest son: “O Yadu, you are my eldest, mature and wise. Take on the old age that has come to me through the śāpa. A father is blessed in a son only when the son obeys him.” Yadu said “No,” and Yayāti pronounced a śāpa on him. Turvasu too refused and received a śāpa. Druhyu would not take the old age that destroys the beauty of form. Anu said “No,” and received a śāpa. Then Yayāti spoke to Puru, and Puru agreed, taking on his father’s old age for a thousand and one years. His father was glad.

With his son’s youth Yayāti enjoyed the pleasures of youth, and in time the son of Nahusha was fully satisfied. Then he called Puru in delight: “O sinless one, through your youth I have had my fill of all pleasures. Take back your youth, dear son, and give me back my old age.”

Puru said “No”: “Dear father, old age gradually ends the restless emotions of embodied beings. When it has been accepted to help one’s elder, how can it be given up? Death is better than the pāpa of casting off what one has accepted. Or, O king, I shall destroy this old age by tapas.”

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 76

Puru’s tapas and Bhagavān Śiva’s vara

Having said this, Puru went to the Gaṅgā and performed tapas on the southern bank of the sacred river. After a long time Bhagavān Śiva was pleased with him, and the best of the devas said to Puru, adorned with jewels of magnificent qualities rare in the world: “What shall I give you?”

Puru asked nothing for himself: “O chief of the devas, worshipped by the devas, destroy the old age my father gained through the śāpa, and free my brothers from the śāpas my father pronounced on them.” Saying “So be it,” Bhagavān Śiva, Jagannātha, destroyed the old age born of the śāpa, and the ruler of the worlds freed his brothers from their śāpas.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 76

The names and the phala

From then on that tīrtha destroys old age and sickness. It is well known by his name; it is called Kālañjara, and it is also known as Yayāta, Nāhusha, Paura, Śaukra and Śārmishṭha. There are a hundred and eight tīrthas like it there, and they give the attainment of every siddhi.

• At Yayāta Tīrtha Bhagavān Śiva is called Kālañjara, and the tīrtha dispels all pāpas.
• Merely remembering it dispels untimely old age.
• Snāna (holy bath) in these tīrthas, dāna there, and hearing or reading the account of the tīrtha suppress all pāpas and give bhukti (worldly enjoyment) and mukti (release).

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 76

Sources

• Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 76