Dṛshadvatī

Dṛshadvatī · dṛshad-vatī, “she who is full of stones”

Dṛshadvatī is a holy river of Bhārata and one of the deva-rivers of Kurukshetra. The Vāmana Purāṇa counts her among the rivers that rise from the foot-lands of Himavat. The land of Kurujāṅgala lies between the Sarasvatī and the Dṛshadvatī, and the deva-made land between these two deva-rivers is called Brahmāvarta. She is one of the nine supremely holy rivers of Kurukshetra, and on her bank lies Phalakīvana, where devas, gandharvas and ṛshis are doing tapas. Bathing in her and offering tarpaṇa there gives the phala of great yajñas, and at her meeting with the Kauśikī a man is freed from all pāpas.

Among the rivers of Himavat

The ṛshis of a forest in Magadha told the rākshasa king Sukeśī of Kumāra-dvīpa, the land of Bhārata, with its mountains and its rivers. Twenty-six rivers, they said, rise from the foot-lands of Himavat: the Sarasvatī, Pañcarūpā, Kālindī, Hiraṇvatī, Śatadru, Candrikā, Nīlā, Vitastā, Airāvatī, Kuhū, Madhurā, Hārarāvī, Uśīrā, Dhātukī, Rasā, Gomatī, Dhūtapāpā, Bāhudā, Dṛshadvatī, Niścirā, Gaṇḍakī, Citrā, Kauśikī, Vadūsarā, Sarayū and Lauhitya. All these rivers are supremely pure (parama-pavitra), and they are the wives of the ocean.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 13

Between the Sarasvatī and the Dṛshadvatī

The Saro Māhātmya, the glory of the sacred lake of Kurukshetra, opens in Kurujāṅgala. There Romaharshaṇa Muni was seated, in the kshetra of Kurujāṅgala between the rivers Sarasvatī and Dṛshadvatī, when the brāhmaṇas asked him to tell the glory of the holy lake: its extent, its tīrthas, the devatās who dwell there, and the account of the birth of Vāmana.

Telling the glory of Kurukshetra, Romaharshaṇa said that the land between the two deva-rivers, the Sarasvatī and the Dṛshadvatī, was made by the devas, and it is called Brahmāvarta.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 1, 12

One of the nine rivers

The ṛshis asked Romaharshaṇa to tell them the seven vanas, the nine rivers and the tīrthas of Kurukshetra. “Now hear of the rivers,” he said, and named the nine: the Sarasvatī, Vaitaraṇī, Āpagā, Gaṅgā, Madhusravā, Vāsu, Kauśikī, Dṛshadvatī and Hiraṇyavatī. These nine rivers are supremely holy and destroy all pāpas. Of them, all except the Sarasvatī flow only in the rainy season. Yet even in the rains the rajasvalā-dosha (the impurity of a river in flood) does not touch their water: they are holy waters, because of the puṇya tīrthas that are there.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 13

Phalakīvana and the saṅgama with the Kauśikī

Phalakīvana is one of the seven holy vanas of Kurukshetra, whose names remove all pāpas, and the river Dṛshadvatī flows there. Devas, gandharvas, sādhyas, ṛshis and others have been doing tapas in Phalakīvana for a thousand divine years. Romaharshaṇa told its phalas:

  • A man who immerses in the Dṛshadvatī and offers tarpaṇa to the devas and the pitṛs gains the phala of the Agnishṭoma and Atirātra yajñas.
  • A śrāddha done in Phalakīvana on a Monday of the kṛshṇa paksha (the dark fortnight) gives the same fruit as a śrāddha at Gayā, which always satisfies the pitṛs.
  • Merely by remembering Phalakīvana with the whole heart, a man’s pitṛs are fully satisfied. There is no doubt of it.
  • Right there in Phalakīvana is a mahātīrtha that is the dwelling of all the devas; bathing in it gives the phala of giving a thousand cows.

Farther on is the saṅgama, the meeting, of the rivers Dṛshadvatī and Kauśikī. A good man, restrained in food, who bathes at this confluence is freed from all pāpas.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 13, 15

Sources

  • Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 13
  • Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 1, 12–13, 15