Nirvindhyā
Nirvindhyā · nir-vindhyā, “she who comes forth from the Vindhya”
The Nirvindhyā, “she who comes forth from the Vindhya“, is a holy river of Bhārata. The Bhāgavata Purāṇa tells that the sound of its flowing waters filled the whole of the Ṛksha mountain, where Atri Maharshi, who had come there with Anasūyā, performed the tapas that brought Brahmā, Vishṇu and Rudra to his āśrama. It names the Nirvindhyā among the great rivers of Bhārata whose very names purify, and Balarāma bathed in it on his tīrthayātrā.
The river of the Ṛksha mountain
Maitreya Maharshi tells Vidura that when Brahmā urged Atri Maharshi, best of the knowers of Brahman, to carry out creation, Atri went with his wife Anasūyā to the kula-parvata named Ṛksha and performed tapas there. In the forests of that mountain the palāśa and aśoka trees were full of clusters of flowers, and the sound of the flowing waters of the river Nirvindhyā filled the whole mountain. There, beyond the pairs of opposites, taking only air as food and mastering his mind with prāṇāyāma, Atri stood on one foot for a hundred years, taking refuge in Parameśvara, Jagannātha, and praying for progeny equal to him. Fire went forth from his head and scorched the three worlds, and Brahmā, Vishṇu and Rudra came to his āśrama.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 1
Among the great rivers of Bhārata
In Śrī Śuka Maharshi’s account of Bhārata khaṇḍa to Parīkshit, the people of Bhārata bathe in the waters of its many rivers, which purify one merely by remembering their names. Of the forty-two great rivers he names, the Nirvindhyā is the fifteenth, after Godāvarī and before Payoshṇī and Tāpī.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 19
Balarāma’s bath
On his tīrthayātrā, after the Śūrpāraka kshetra, Balarāma bathed in the Tāpī, the Payoshṇī and the Nirvindhyā rivers, and then entered Daṇḍakāraṇya and went on to the Narmadā.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 79
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 1; Skandha 5, Chapter 19; Skandha 10, Chapter 79