Pāriyātra

Pāriyātra

Pāriyātra is a mountain of Bhārata-varsha, one of its seven kula-parvatas (chief mountain ranges). The Vāmana Purāṇa names eleven rivers that rise from it, among them the Mahī, the Carmaṇvatī, the Vidiśā and the Siprā. Prahlāda bathed in the Lāṅgalinī at Pāriyātra on his tīrthayātrā (journey to the holy places), and Bhagavān Vāmana names the mountain as a place where he abides as Aparājita, “the never defeated”.

Pāriyātra among the kula-parvatas

When the rākshasa king Sukeśī asked the ṛshis about the world, they told him that Bhārata-varsha is divided into nine dvīpas, and that the one where they lived is Kumāra-dvīpa. Its seven kula-parvatas are Mahendra, Malaya, Sahya, Śuktimān, Ṛksha, Vindhya and Pāriyātra. Besides these there are hundreds and thousands of other lovely mountains of great extent.

The ṛshis then told Sukeśī of the rivers that give water to these lands. Eleven rivers, they said, rise from Pāriyātra-giri:

  • Vedasmṛti
  • Vedasinī
  • Vṛtraghnī
  • Mahī
  • Pārā
  • Carmaṇvatī
  • Lūpī
  • Vidiśā
  • Veṇumatī
  • Siprā
  • Avantī

All these rivers, the ṛshis said, are supremely pure, and they are the wives of the ocean.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 13

Pāriyātra at Himavān’s assembly

When Bhagavān Śiva sent the Saptarshis to Himavān to ask for his daughter Umā (Kālī), Himavān would not decide without his mountain kinsmen. He sent his doorkeeper Gandhamādana to call them, and Meru and the other chief mountains came and sat on golden seats in his assembly hall. Pāriyātra is named among them, together with Udayācala, Hemakūṭa, Mandara, Vindhya, Malaya, Kailāsa, Mahendra, Nishadha and many others. Meru and the chiefs told Himavān to give Kālī to Śiva at once, and Himavān, together with the great mountains, gave her to Śarva.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 26

Prahlāda at Pāriyātra

Pulastya Maharshi told Nārada Maharshi of the tīrthayātrā of Prahlāda, the mahābhāgavata. From Mahendra in the south Prahlāda went on to Uttara Mahendra and then to Sahyādri, where he dipped in the Mahodakī and had darśana of Nārāyaṇa. From there he went to Mount Pāriyātra. There he dipped in the Lāṅgalinī and prayed to Aparājita prabhu. Then he went on to the Kaśeru country, where he had darśana of Viśvarūpa. At the close of the account Pulastya said that one who sings, hears or passes on the tīrthayātrā of Prahlāda is freed from all pāpas (sins).

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 57

Bhagavān Vāmana as Aparājita

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: on the Pāriyātra mountain he is Aparājita. In the stotra of Agastya Maharshi that comes just before, Aparājita, “the never defeated”, is praised by the same name.

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 13, 26, 57, 61–63