Nṛtyā (River)

Nṛtyā · nṛtyā, “dance”

Nṛtyā, “Dance”, is a river that flowed out of the body of Ilā when she bathed in the Gautamī and became King Ila again. With her sister rivers Gītā, “Song”, and Saubhāgyā, “Conjugal Felicity”, she joined the Gaṅgā, and the three confluences are very holy. Brahmā tells the account to Nārada in Chapter 38 of the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa, the chapter of Ilātīrtha and the sixteen thousand tīrthas.

How the river came to be

King Ila entered Umāvana, the forest of Umā, without knowing it, drawn there by the Yakshiṇī Samā, wife of the Yaksha Samanyu, and by Maheśvara’s command for that forest he became a woman, Ilā. The Yakshiṇī taught Ilā the arts that befit a woman: dance, song, graceful charm and the rest. Ilā became the wife of Budha, son of Soma, and bore him Purūravas. When Purūravas asked how his mother could regain manhood, Budha sent him to the Gautamī, where Bhagavān Śiva, who removes śāpas and grants varas, dwells always with Umā.

Budha, Ilā and Purūravas came from Himavat to the Gautamī, bathed, performed tapas for a short while, and praised Devī Gaurī and Bhagavān Śaṅkara, each with a stotra. Purūravas asked Ambikā to forgive the king who had entered her forest unknowingly and to grant him manhood. The Devī said “So be it”, and Bhagavān Śiva said: “Let this king regain his manhood merely by taking a holy plunge here.”

As Ilā took her holy dip, water flowed out from her body. Whatever she had received from the Yakshiṇī, dance, song, graceful charm and the rest, entered the waters of the Gaṅgā with that flow, and rivers issued forth: Nṛtyā, Gītā and Saubhāgyā. These too joined the Gaṅgā.

The phala

The three confluences are very holy. A holy bath and dāna (gifts) at these confluences grant the reward of the kingdom of the devas. Brahmā adds that sixteen thousand tīrthas arose on both banks of the Gautamī in these places: where King Ila performed his yajñas, where he met his sons after regaining manhood, and where the rivers that came from the arts of dance, song, conjugal felicity, auspiciousness and the rest, given by the Yakshiṇī, joined the Gaṅgā. Bhagavān Śambhu is called Ileśvara there. A holy bath, dāna and the like in these tīrthas give the reward of all yajñas. Of Ilātīrtha itself Brahmā says that it purifies even those who have committed brahmahatyā and other grave pāpas, brings siddhi and grants every cherished wish.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 38

Sources

• Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 38