Saindhavāraṇya

Saindhavāraṇya · saindhava-araṇya, “the Saindhava forest”

Saindhavāraṇya is one of the holy forests (araṇyas) of Bhārata, named in the Vāmana Purāṇa beside Pushkarāraṇya, Magadhāraṇya, Dharmāraṇya and Naimiśāraṇya. Bhagavān Śiva bathed in its waters when he bore Brahmā‘s skull on his hand as Kapālī and went from tīrtha to tīrtha. The great devotee Prahlāda, on his tīrtha-yātrā (journey to the holy places), worshipped Sunetreśvara there, who holds the śaṅkha (conch) and the śūla (trident). And Bhagavān Vāmana told Bharadvāja Ṛshi that at Saindhavāraṇya he is present as Sunetra, “the fair-eyed”.

Bhagavān Śiva bathes there as Kapālī

Pulastya Maharshi told Nārada how Bhagavān Śiva became Kapālī. Brahmā‘s skull stayed fixed to Bhagavān Śiva’s hand, and Brahmahatyā, the pāpa (sin) of slaying a brāhmaṇa, came in a fearsome female form and entered his body. Bhagavān Śiva went to Badarikāśrama, but Nara and Nārāyaṇa, the sons of Dharma, were not to be seen there. He went to bathe in the Yamunā, and the river began to dry up; he went to the river Plakshajā, and it too was dry.

From there he went to Pushkarāraṇya, Magadhāraṇya and Saindhavāraṇya, and bathed freely in their waters. Then he plunged into the tīrthas of Dharmāraṇya and Naimiśāraṇya, and bathed in many more tīrthas and rivers, performing pūjā and yoga in kshetras, āśramas and temples; yet Brahmahatyā did not leave him. Only when he had praised Bhagavān Vishṇu at Kurujāṅgala and gone, as Vishṇu told him, to Vārāṇasī was he freed from Brahmahatyā; and when he bathed in the Kapālamocana tīrtha, Brahmā’s skull fell from his palm.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 3

Prahlāda worships Sunetreśvara

Pulastya Maharshi told Nārada the tīrtha-yātrā of Prahlāda, lord of the dānavas and a great bhāgavata. At the Mahākośī, Prahlāda worshipped Haṃseśvara, and from there he went to the excellent Saindhavāraṇya. There he worshipped Sunetreśvara, who holds the śaṅkha and the śūla. Then that mighty-armed devotee went on to Trivishṭapa, where he worshipped Mahādeva, famed as Jaṭādhara, and Hari.

At the close of the yātrā Pulastya Maharshi said: whoever sings this puṇya-giving account of Prahlāda’s tīrtha-yātrā, hears it, or passes it on to others, is freed from all pāpa.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 57

Bhagavān Vāmana as Sunetra

When Bhagavān Vāmana had received his upanayana and mastered the Vedas, he asked Bharadvāja Ṛshi for leave to go to Kurukshetra, where Bali was performing the aśvamedha yajña. Bali could perform that yajña on earth, he said, only by the power of Vāmana’s own tejas-aṃśas, the portions of his splendour, and by gaining their presence; all of them could be seen there. Bharadvāja asked him in which places those aṃśas abide. Then Bhagavān Vāmana named the holy places in which he, the many-formed, dwells, and among them he said that at Saindhavāraṇya he is present as Sunetra.

Of all these places he said that they are sanātana (eternal), purātana (ancient) and pavitra (holy); they give dharma, they are full of tejas (divine radiance), 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 surely gain all four purushārthas: dharma, artha, kāma and moksha. “This is certain,” said Bhagavān Vāmana.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 62–63

Sources

• Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 3, 57, 62–63