Rāmahrada

The Rāmahrada is a group of five sacred lakes at Kurukshetra. Bhārgava Rāma (Paraśurāma) made them after he had killed the kshatriyas. The Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa also calls them Rāmasarovara, Syāmantapañcaka and Pañcanada. The Saro Māhātmya (the Vāmana Purāṇa’s praise of the lakes of Kurukshetra) names the Rāmahrada as one of the main landmarks of holy Kurukshetra.

The three sacred territories

Chapter 1 of the Saro Māhātmya names three sacred territories in the Kurukshetra region:

  1. Brahmāvedi. The innermost and most sacred zone. It lies between the rivers Sarasvatī and Dṛshadvatī.
  2. Rāmahrada. The five lakes made by Paraśurāma. They form the next zone.
  3. Kurukshetra. The wider sacred field, half a yojana wide. All the tīrthas, forests and rivers of the Saro Māhātmya lie inside it.

The Saro Māhātmya names the Rāmahrada as the territory that comes after Brahmāvedi and before Kurukshetra proper.

Paraśurāma and the five lakes

Bhārgava Rāma is Paraśurāma, the son of Jamadagni and an avatāra of Bhagavān Vishṇu. Kshatriyas had killed his father again and again, so he vowed to rid the earth of the kshatriya class. He kept this vow twenty-one times. At Kurukshetra, on the spot that became the Rāmahrada, the blood of the slain kshatriyas filled five large lakes.

With these lakes before him, Paraśurāma turned to his ancestors (pitṛdevas). He offered tarpaṇa (a water offering) to them with the blood of the slain. In this one act the duty of honouring the ancestors (pitṛ-pūjā) joined the terrible violence of his task. (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 14)

The ancestors’ blessing

The ancestors of Paraśurāma appeared in the sky above him in their glory. They said:

“O Rāma of great valour! We are pleased with your strength and with your devotion to us. Ask any vara (boon). May you be blessed.”

Paraśurāma folded his hands in namaskāra to the ancestors standing in the sky. He made three requests:

  1. That he might get back his tapas-siddhi (power won by tapas), which his anger at the killing of the kshatriyas had weakened.
  2. That the pāpa (sin) of killing the kshatriyas, done in a surge of anger (roshātireka), be destroyed.
  3. That these five lakes become holy tīrthas (pāvana-tīrtha), known in all the worlds.

The ancestors granted all three. His tapas would grow strong through his unmatched devotion to his elders. His pāpa was already gone, for the kshatriyas had been killed by their own karma. The five lakes would become famous tīrthas.

The ancestors also said that those who bathe in these lakes and offer tarpaṇa to their ancestors will have every wish fulfilled by those ancestors. They will reach svarga (heaven) for ever. (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 14)

How a pilgrim visits

Chapter 14 sends the pilgrim to the Rāmahrada after a round of the tīrthas tied to the yaksha Rantuka, the guardian of the Kurukshetra threshold. At the Rāmahrada the pilgrim should:

  • Bathe in the five lakes as a brahmacārī (with self-control), keeping the set rules (niyamas).
  • Worship Paraśurāma (Rāma, Bhārgava) at the tīrtha.

The reward is bahusvarṇa-prāpti, the gaining of much gold. The text gives this as a sign of the tīrtha‘s riches, both of this world and of the spirit.

After the Rāmahrada the pilgrimage goes on to these tīrthas, in order:

  1. Vaṃśamūla Tīrtha, for the growth of one’s family line.
  2. Kāyaśodhana, for the cleansing of the body.
  3. Loka-uddhāra.
  4. Śālagrāmaśrī.
  5. Kapila Tīrtha.
  6. Sūrya Tīrtha.
  7. Bhavānīvana.

(Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 14)

Surabhī and the Bhavānīvana

In the same part of the pilgrimage, Chapter 14 tells how the Surabhī Tīrtha began. In ancient times Brahmā drank amṛta and then rinsed his mouth (ācamana). Surabhī, the wish-fulfilling cow (Kāmadhenu), was born from the rinse-water that he spat out. She went down to Pātāla, and her calves filled that world with countless cows.

Later Brahmā needed these cows as dakshiṇā for his yajña. They came up to the surface through an underground passage (bila). At the mouth of the passage a mūrti of Gaṇapati appeared. To see and worship this Gaṇapati fulfils every wish. The place is called the Surabhī Tīrtha, or Bhavānīvana. (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 14)

Sources

  • Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 1 and 14
  • Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 23