Śubhra (Mountain)

Śubhra · śubhra, “the white, the shining”

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

Śubhra, also called Śveta, “the white mountain”, is a holy mountain on the southern bank of the Gautamī (the Godāvarī), east of Pushpotkaṭa. Brahmā tells Nārada in the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa that it is known in all the worlds and is the most excellent of mountains. Ṛshis, gandharvas and devas resort to it. Here the disciplined ṛshi Śākalya performed tapas (austerity), and here the rākshasa Paraśu, who had come to devour him, was saved by the grace of Śākalya, Sarasvatī and Bhagavān Vishṇu. The Sārasvata tīrtha on the Gautamī takes its name from that account, and many tīrthas on the mountain were born of that grace.

Śākalya and the rākshasa Paraśu

Śākalya was a ṛshi of great self-discipline. He performed excellent tapas on the holy mountain Śubhra, on the banks of the Gautamī, tending the sacred fire (agnihotra) and studying the Vedas, and all living beings bowed to him and praised him. On the same mountain lived a rākshasa named Paraśu, who terrified devas and brāhmaṇas, hated yajñas and killed brāhmaṇas. He could take any form he wished, and he wandered through the forest now as a brāhmaṇa, now as a tiger, a deva, an animal, a young maiden, a deer or a boy, committing pāpa after pāpa. Every day he came to where Śākalya stayed, but though he tried to carry off and kill that pure brāhmaṇa, he could not.

One day, after carefully worshipping the devas, Śākalya sat down to eat. Paraśu came at that moment in the form of an old brāhmaṇa, feeble and grey-haired, with a girl beside him, and asked for food as a guest come at the proper hour. He spoke of the dharma of the guest (atithi): blessed are those from whose houses guests go away with all their desires fulfilled; the devas follow the weary guest, and are satisfied when he is satisfied; one who looks on a weary guest with disgust loses his dharma, fame and prosperity at once. He would eat, he said, only if Śākalya granted whatever he desired. Śākalya, taking him for a brāhmaṇa, seated and honoured him and said, “It is already given. Eat.” Then Paraśu declared himself: “I am Paraśu, the rākshasa, your enemy. For many years I have watched you. Now I shall carry you off with your followers and eat you.”

Śākalya answered that those of noble birth hold to what they have promised, and told him to do as he pleased. Yet he spoke his protection, a kavaca of the names of Bhagavān Vishṇu: “I am a brāhmaṇa of adamantine body. Bhagavān Hari protects me on all sides. May Vishṇu protect my feet, Varāha my arms, Dharmarāja my back, Kṛshṇa my heart, Narasiṃha my fingers, the master of speech my mouth, the one who rides on Garuḍa my eyes, Kubera my ears, and Bhava protect me all round. Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa himself is the one refuge in every adversity.” Then he said, “Take me or devour me, great rākshasa, without hesitation.”

Paraśu came near with his terrible curved fangs, but the moment he looked at the brāhmaṇa he saw him holding the śaṅkha, the cakra and the gadā, with a thousand feet, heads, eyes and hands, the abode of all beings, whose form is the Vedas, one with the universe. He took refuge in Śākalya and begged for knowledge and for a tīrtha where his pāpas might be washed away, for meeting mahātmās (great ones) is never fruitless, just as iron touched by the sparśa-maṇi becomes gold. Śākalya, full of compassion, told him to praise Bhagavān Vishṇu, for there is no means to the good but prayer to Nārāyaṇa, and promised that, at Śākalya’s own request, Devī Sarasvatī would be pleased with him and grant him varas (boons).

The darśana of Sarasvatī and Bhagavān Vishṇu’s grace

Paraśu bathed in the Gaṅgā, the purifier of the three worlds, and stood facing her, pure and with his mind controlled. There he had the darśana of Devī Sarasvatī: of divine form, anointed with divine scents, the mother of the universe, who removes the dullness of the world, present there because of Śākalya‘s words. Freed of his pāpas, Paraśu asked her for the power to praise Bhagavān Vishṇu, the consort of Lakshmī, whose banner bears Garuḍa, as his guru had told him. Devī Sarasvatī said, “Let it be so.” By her grace Paraśu praised Bhagavān Vishṇu; Bhagavān Vishṇu, the ocean of mercy, was pleased and granted him every desire of his heart. So, though he had done great pāpa, Paraśu went to svarga by the grace of Śākalya, of the Gautamī, of Sarasvatī, of Narasiṃha and of the bearer of the Śārṅga bow, whose lotus foot is a tīrtha for all.

The tīrthas of the mountain

From then on the tīrtha there is known as Sārasvata. It grants every cherished desire, gives bhukti and mukti, destroys all pāpas, subdues every ailment and bestows all siddhis. One who bathes there and gives dāna is honoured in Vishṇuloka. On that Śveta mountain there are many tīrthas, born of the grace of Sarasvatī, Vishṇu, Śākalya and Paraśu.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 93

Sources

• Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 93