Madhuvana

Madhuvana · madhu-vana

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

Madhuvana is a holy forest of Bhārata-varsha. The Vāmana Purāṇa names it as one of the places where Bhagavān Vishṇu, as Vāmana, abides: at Madhuvana he is present as Svayambhū deva, “the self-born”. The Purāṇa also tells that Prahlāda, on his long tīrthayātrā (journey to the holy places), came to Madhuvana from Vārāṇasī and worshipped Svayambhū deva there.

Prahlāda at Madhuvana

Pulastya Maharshi told Nārada Maharshi of the tīrthayātrā of Prahlāda, the mahābhāgavata, through the holy places of the whole land. After many tīrthas Prahlāda reached Vārāṇasī. There he bathed separately in the rivers Asī and Varaṇā, which take away all pāpa (sin), and worshipped the pitṛdevatās. He worshipped Avimukteśvara and Mādhava, made the pradakshiṇa of the city and served Lolārka deva. From Vārāṇasī he came to Madhuvana. There he worshipped Svayambhū deva, and from Madhuvana he went on to Pushkarāraṇya.

At the close of the account Pulastya said that the tīrthayātrā of Prahlāda gives puṇya: one who sings it, hears it or passes it on to others is freed from all pāpas.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 57

Bhagavān Vāmana as Svayambhū

After his upanayana, Bhagavān Vāmana told his guru Bharadvāja Ṛshi that the daitya Bali could perform his aśvamedha yajña only by the power of his tejas-aṃśas, the portions of his divine radiance. The earth, the sky, pātāla, the oceans, divi (the realm of the devas), the directions, all the mountains and the clouds, he said, are filled with his forms. He then named his holy places one by one, and among them: at Madhuvana he is Svayambhū deva. In the stotra of Agastya Maharshi that comes just before, the same name is praised: “Namaskāra to Svayambhū, the self-born.”

Of all these places Bhagavān Vāmana said that they are sanātana (eternal), purātana (ancient) and pavitra (holy); they give dharma, they are full of tejas, they destroy pāpa, and they are always to be praised. Devas, humans and sādhyas who practise darśana (seeing), sparśana (touching), kīrtana (praising) and smaraṇa (remembering) of these forms attain all four purushārthas: dharma, artha, kāma and moksha. “This is certain,” said Bhagavān Vāmana.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 61–63

Sources

• Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 57, 61–63