Sarasvatī River

Sarasvatī, “the one who flows”

Sarasvatī has other meanings too: see all meanings of Sarasvatī. Sudarśana has other meanings too: see all meanings of Sudarśana.

The Sarasvatī is the most ancient and the holiest of rivers, the crest-jewel of rivers, who removes every pāpa (sin) by mere remembrance. The Vāmana Purāṇa calls her the daughter of Brahmā, Harijihvā, “the tongue of Hari”, and Plakshajā, “born from the plaksha tree”. She rose from a plaksha tree, split her way through thousands of mountains and came to Dvaitavana. There Mārkaṇḍeya Maharshi had her darśana (sacred sight) and praised her with a stotra, and at his word she entered Kurukshetra at Rantuka, wet the whole kshetra and turned to the west. Of the nine rivers of Kurukshetra she alone flows in every season. With the Dṛshadvatī she bounds Kurujāṅgala and Brahmāvarta, the land the devas made, and the holy Sannihita lake lies beside her.

Her banks are lined with tīrthas (holy bathing places): Pṛthūdaka on her northern bank, where Brahmā gained the knowledge to create the four varṇas; the Sthāṇu tīrtha with the Caturmukha liṅga that Brahmā installed; Śrīkuñja, the Soma tīrtha and the Koṭitīrtha of Rudrakoṭeśvara; and at Prabhāsa she meets the ocean, before Someśvara. Seven Sarasvatīs, called to Pushkara, Naimisha, Gayā, Uttara Kośala, Kedāra and Gaṅgādvāra, and one drawn by Mārkaṇḍeya’s stotra, flow together as one at the Sapta Sārasvata. She flows at Badarikāśrama in the Himālaya, the land of the tapas of Nara and Nārāyaṇa, and through Naimishāraṇya. At Viśvāmitra‘s command she carried Vasishṭha Maharshi in her stream and hid him in her waters; for this she flowed with blood for a year under Viśvāmitra’s śāpa (curse), until ṛshis on pilgrimage made her pure with the waters of the Aruṇā. The devas consecrated Skanda with her sacred waters, and performed śrāddha for the pitṛs on her ancient bank.

Her names

• Sarasvatī, the best of rivers.
• Brahmaputrī, daughter of Brahmā; Pāpanāśinī, destroyer of pāpa; Puṇyarūpiṇī, of holy form; Harijihvā, the tongue of Hari; Plakshajā, born from the plaksha tree; the mother of Sudarśana; and Bhagavatī, as King Kuru saw her at Dvaitavana.
• Prācīna Sarasvatī, the ancient Sarasvatī, on whose bank the devas performed śrāddha.
• Sīkā, the name of the best of rivers that was born on the path of the fleeing Vasus, which was called Sarasvatī.
• Vishṇu-jihvā, the tongue of Vishṇu; and, in Mārkaṇḍeya‘s stotra, Sarvaloka-jananī, mother of all the worlds, Devamātā, mother of the devas, Devāraṇi, the sacred fire-wood of the devas, Parāśakti, Sanātanī, the eternal one, and Bhagavatī.
• Nadī-śiromaṇi, the crest-jewel of rivers.
• Uttama-srotasvinī, best of streams, and Kalyāṇī, the auspicious one, as Viśvāmitra addressed her; Nadīmatallī, the best mother of rivers; and Pāvana Sarasvatī, the holy Sarasvatī, as Vasishṭha praised her.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 5, 23–24; Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 11, 16, 19

Her birth from the plaksha tree

In the Saro Māhātmya the ṛshis asked Romaharshaṇa: how was the Sarasvatī born, the best of all the rivers that flow through Kurukshetra? How did this holy stream join the lake, set up many tīrthas on her banks, and flow westward with a course now seen, now unseen? Romaharshaṇa answered that the Sarasvatī, most ancient, who removes all pāpas by mere remembrance, arose from a plaksha tree, the fig. Splitting her way through thousands of mountains, that great river reached Dvaitavana with her waters of puṇya (merit). Mārkaṇḍeya Maharshi saw her while she was still in the plaksha tree, bowed his head to her and praised that Devī with a stotra.

Mārkaṇḍeya’s stotra to the Sarasvatī, in its order:

• “Devī, you are the mother of all the worlds. You are the Devamātā of auspicious form, the araṇi (sacred fire-wood) of the devas.”
• “All that is sat and asat, all that grants moksha, every word that has meaning: all this is held within you, as everything is held within the womb.”
• “The imperishable Parabrahma-tattva and the perishable, changing universe are all contained in you, the Parāśakti.”
• “As fire is in wood and the quality of smell in the earth, so the endless world and the Brahma-tattva fill you.”
• “The three letters and mātrās of the Oṃkāra, the sense of ‘it is’ and ‘it is not’, the three worlds, the three Vedas, the dhātus, the three states, the pitṛs and the three mātrās: all these triads are your form alone, O Sarasvatī Devī.”
• “All the different visions of the supreme tattva are your līlās (divine play), O eternal one, O Mother.”
• “By merely uttering you, the brahmavādīs are able to perform the soma, havis and pāka yajñas.”
• “Your supreme state, measured as the half-mātrā, cannot be pointed out as ‘such’. It is changeless, imperishable, divine, free of every transformation. Not I alone: no one can describe that divine form of yours. Neither mouth nor tongue nor palate nor lips have the power to describe it.”
• “That form of yours is Vishṇu, Śiva and Brahmā, the sun, the moon and fire; it is the support of the world and the universe itself. It is the ātmā of the universe; it is Sāṅkhya. The Vedas, spread in many śākhās, declare it to be without middle or end, sat and asat.”
• “Though one, it is many, and rests on a single bhāva. It has no name, yet it is named in six ways and in many ways. It is joined with the three guṇas, knows the tattva of many śaktis and is the gathering of many śaktis.”
• “It is the happiness of all happinesses. Your form is the great happiness, whose nature is all tattvas and guṇas.”
• “O Bhagavatī, with such a wondrous form you pervade this whole universe, saguṇa and nirguṇa. You yourself act as the non-dual Brahman and as the dual Brahman.”
• “You are the support of all things, on this earth, in the mid-space or elsewhere, eternal and passing, gross and subtle.”
• “O Devī, this whole, having form and unseen by the eye, appearing as one and as many, separate and combined, is the gathering of svaras and vyañjanas (vowels and consonants) that you are, your lovely arrangement.”

To the great muni who had praised her thus, Sarasvatī Devī, the tongue of Vishṇu, said: “Best of brāhmaṇas, wherever you lead me, I will come with you there without rest. Walk on.” Mārkaṇḍeya said: “Mother, flow swiftly with your holy waters through the middle of the holy kshetra that was first famed as Brahma-sarovara, then as Rāma-saras, and after Maharshi Kuru ploughed it, as Kurukshetra.”

The Purāṇa also tells of a river born on the day of Daksha‘s yajña. When Bhagavān Śiva came to the yajña with the triśūla in his hand, the eight Vasus fled as soon as they saw Hara, and the path by which they fled became the best of rivers, named Sīkā. That river was called Sarasvatī.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 5; Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 11

Among the rivers of Bhārata

When the rākshasa Sukeśī asked the maharshis about Jambūdvīpa, they told him of Kumāra-dvīpa, the land of Bhārata, and of the rivers that water it. The Sarasvatī stands first among the twenty-six rivers that rise from the foot-lands of Himavat: 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. A Sarasvatī is also named among the fourteen great rivers that are daughters of the Sahyādri: Godāvarī, Bhīmarathī, Kṛshṇā, Veṇā, Sarasvatī, Tuṅgabhadrā, Suprayogā, Vāhyā, Kāverī, Dugdhodā, Naḷinī, Revā, Vārisenā and Kalasvanā. All these rivers, the ṛshis said, are supremely pure, and they are the wives of the ocean.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 13

She enters Kurukshetra

Hearing the words of the wise Mārkaṇḍeya, the Sarasvatī entered Kurukshetra as a stream. That river of holy waters reached Rantuka and, wetting Kurukshetra, turned westward. There are a thousand tīrthas there, served by maharshis. To remember a holy tīrtha gives puṇya, to see it destroys pāpa, and to bathe in it gives mukti even to those of the very worst deeds. The land between the two deva-rivers, the Sarasvatī and the Dṛshadvatī, was made by the devas and is called Brahmāvarta. Those who bathe in the lake there and live on the bank of the Sarasvatī surely gain brahmajñāna (knowledge of Brahman).

The pilgrimage of Kurukshetra begins on her bank. Steadfast in the vow, the pilgrim walks around the sacred lake, goes to Rantuka asking forgiveness again and again, bathes in the Sarasvatī river, has darśana of the Yaksha who guards Rantuka, worships him with incense, lamp, flowers and food-offerings, and prays: “O Yakshendra, by your grace alone may this pilgrimage I have undertaken, to the tīrthas, the forests and the lakes, be fulfilled without obstacle.”

The nine rivers of Kurukshetra are the Sarasvatī, Vaitaraṇī, Āpagā, Gaṅgā, Madhusravā, Vāsu, Kauśikī, Dṛshadvatī and Hiraṇyavatī. They are supremely holy and destroy all pāpas. Of these, all except the Sarasvatī flow only in the rainy season, and even then the impurity of a river in flood does not touch their water, because of the holy tīrthas there.

Romaharshaṇa told the munis this account seated in the Kurujāṅgala kshetra, between the rivers Sarasvatī and Dṛshadvatī. The extent of the sacred lake, as he learned it from the Vāmana Purāṇa, is this: the lake of half a yojana that lies from Viśveśvara to Devavara, and from Narapāvana to the Sarasvatī, is the Sannihita. Devatās and ṛshis take refuge in that holy tīrtha and serve it for svarga and moksha.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 1, 11–13

The seven Sarasvatīs

Once the whole earth, with its mountains and oceans, kept shaking, and Bhagavān Śiva found the cause at the holy Saptasārasvata kshetra: the great muni Maṅkaṇa was dancing there in an excess of joy, because from a wound in his hand vegetable sap flowed instead of blood. Bhagavān Śiva struck with his finger, and pure bhasma came forth; the muni bowed his head and saluted him. Then Bhagavān Śiva granted this vara: “This place will flourish as a holy tīrtha equal to Pṛthūdaka. In this Sārasvata tīrtha the suras, asuras, gandharvas, vidyādharas, kinnaras and others will always be present. It will be a mainstay of dharma and will destroy all the impurities of pāpa. This Saptasārasvata tīrtha is made holy by the waters of Suprabhā, Kāñcanākshī, Suveṇu, Manoharā of pure water, Oghavatī, Viśālā and Sarasvatī. Whoever serves it gains the fruit of drinking soma. These seven Sarasvatīs are always here, and each river gives the fruit of a soma-yāga.” At Bhagavān Śiva’s command Maṅkaṇa established a mūrti in Kurukshetra and went to Brahmaloka, and the earth was still again.

The Saro Māhātmya tells how each of the seven came. At the Sapta Sārasvata tīrtha, worthy to be counted in the three worlds, the seven Sarasvatīs come together and flow as one: Suprabhā, Kāñcanākshī, Viśālā, Mānasahradā, Sarasvatī Oghanāmā, Suveṇā and Vimalodakā.

1. Suprabhā at Pushkara. Brahmā was performing a yajña in the Pushkara kshetra, and the ṛshis said: “A yajña begun where the Sarasvatī, the crest-jewel of rivers, is not present does not give its true fruit.” Pitāmaha remembered the Sarasvatī, and she came swiftly to Pushkara as Suprabhā Devī, and the ṛshis honoured her. Maṅkaṇa brought her from Pushkara to Kurukshetra.
2. Kāñcanākshī at Naimisha. Śaunaka and the munis of Naimiśāraṇya asked Lomaharshaṇa how they might gain the fruit of yajña, and he answered: “The place where the Sarasvatī river is gives great yajña-phala.” The ṛshis of the sattra-yāga meditated on her, and the Sarasvatī came to their place of yajña for their bathing. When Maṅkaṇa Maharshi meditated on her, the Sarasvatī named Kāñcanākshī came from Naimisha to Kurukshetra.
3. Viśālā at Gayā. King Gaya began a great kratu at Gayā and invited the Sarasvatī there. The Sarasvatī who reached Gayā is called Viśālā, and she too, honouring Maṅkaṇa’s prayer, came to Kurukshetra.
4. Manoharā in Uttara Kośala. When the muni Uddālaka meditated, the Sarasvatī came to the holy land of Uttara Kośala, where munis clothed in bark and deer-skin worshipped her. That river, remover of all pāpas, was called Manoharā; at Maṅkaṇa’s prayer and out of regard for the ṛshis she came to Kurukshetra.
5. Suveṇu at Kedāra. The Sarasvatī at the Kedāra tīrtha, served by ṛshis and siddhas, is called Suveṇu. The same muni worshipped Parameśvara and brought her to Kurukshetra for the good of the ṛshis.
6. Vimalodakā at Gaṅgādvāra. Daksha, consecrated for a yajña at Gaṅgādvāra, brought the Sarasvatī forth in the form of Vimalodakā; at Maṅkaṇa’s call she too reached Kurukshetra, the place of King Kuru‘s yajña.
7. The Sarasvatī of Mārkaṇḍeya. Pleased with the stotra of Mārkaṇḍeya Muni, the Sarasvatī of holy waters came to the middle of the lake.

There the siddha Maṅkaṇa, stilled by Mahādeva, dances in bliss. Bhagavān Śiva said to him: “I too will always dwell with you in this āśrama.” For one who bathes in the Sapta Sārasvata kshetra and worships Bhagavān Śiva there, nothing in this world or the next is out of reach; by Śiva’s grace such fortunate ones attain the highest state and enjoy the joys of the Sārasvata svarga.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 36; Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 16–17

Vasishṭha carried in her stream

In the round of tīrthas after Pṛthūdaka, right there at the Yāyāta and Madhusrava tīrthas, is the great tīrtha Vāsishṭhodvāha, “where Vasishṭha was carried away”. One who bathes there with bhakti attains the world of Vasishṭha. The brāhmaṇas asked how the Sarasvatī came to carry Vasishṭha off in her waters, and the account was told.

Between the rājarshi Viśvāmitra and the brahmarshi Vasishṭha there had long been enmity, each relying on the power of his own tapas. Vasishṭha’s āśrama was there, and there Bhagavān Sthāṇvīśvara worshipped the Sarasvatī and established her in the form of a liṅga. While Vasishṭha remained in fierce tapas, Viśvāmitra called the river and commanded her to bring Vasishṭha, the best of munis, for he would surely kill him. Hearing that, the great river stood still in deep anguish. Viśvāmitra, still more enraged, roared: “Go at once and bring Vasishṭha!” Then that best mother of rivers came weeping to Vasishṭha and told him Viśvāmitra’s words. Vasishṭha, wasted by tapas, saw her distress and, full of compassion, told her to carry him to Viśvāmitra as she had been commanded.

As she bore him along in her flowing waters, Vasishṭha praised her:

• “O holy Sarasvatī, arisen from the Brahma-saras, the lake of Brahmā!”
• “With your holy waters you have flooded the whole world.”
• “You flow in the sky and give water to the clouds.”
• “All waters are your form.”
• “You are the support of this whole world, together with nourishment, fame, the siddhis, radiance, forbearance, svāhā, svadhā and speech.”
• “In all living beings you dwell in the form of vāṇī (speech).”
• “Namas to you.”

Pleased with Vasishṭha’s stotra, the Sarasvatī carried him gently to Viśvāmitra and, downcast, told him she had brought him. When Viśvāmitra took up a weapon to kill Vasishṭha, she hid him in the middle of her stream. So she honoured the commands of both.

Not seeing Vasishṭha, Viśvāmitra pronounced a śāpa on her: “O best of streams, Kalyāṇī! In return for deceiving me, you shall flow with blood instead of water and be the dwelling of rākshasas.” By that śāpa the Sarasvatī flowed with blood for one year. The devas, gandharvas and apsarās grieved to see her so, while bhūtas, piśācas and rākshasas gathered round and drank the blood with hideous laughter. After some days ṛshis rich in tapas came near her on a pilgrimage. Seeing the holy river turned to blood, they resolved to protect her and asked her the cause, and she told them all of Viśvāmitra’s outrage. Then the munis brought the holy waters of the Aruṇā river, which removes all pāpas, mixed them into the Sarasvatī and made her pure.

The rākshasas, seeing the waters made pure, begged the munis piteously for release, saying they had become brahmarākshasas through their pāpa-karma and had not chosen that path themselves. The compassionate munis spoke among themselves of what is rākshasa food: food left over, touched by insects, fallen with hair, or fouled by the breath, which the wise should avoid. Then, to uplift the rākshasas, they made there the holy confluence of the Aruṇā and the Sarasvatī. The rākshasas bathed in it, were freed of pāpa, put on divine garlands and garments, and went to the svarga-lokas.

The Aruṇā–Sarasvatī saṅgama is famed in the world. One who fasts three nights there and bathes there is freed from every kilbisha (fault), and in the terrible Kali age, when dharma has sunk low, men who bathe at the Aruṇā saṅgama become free.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 18–19

The tīrthas on her banks

• Śrīkuñja, on the bank of the Sarasvatī and famed in the three worlds. One who bathes in it with bhakti gains the fruit of an Agnishṭoma.
• Pṛthūdaka, on her northern bank, to which one goes eating moderately. The brahmarshi Rushaṅgu, who remembered his former births, lived at Gaṅgādvāra; knowing that his end was near, he had his sons carry him to Pṛthūdaka, bathed in the Sarasvatī, and declared: “One who gives up the body while doing japa at the Pṛthūdaka tīrtha on the northern bank of the Sarasvatī surely attains amaratva (deathlessness).”
• Brahmayoni, right there at Pṛthūdaka on the bank of the Sarasvatī. Brahmā dwelt there and gained the knowledge to create the four varṇas: as soon as he resolved to create, brāhmaṇas were born from his mouth, kshatriyas from his arms, vaiśyas from his thighs and śūdras from his feet, and he set them in the dharmas of the āśramas. One who seeks moksha and bathes there is not born again.
• The Soma tīrtha, right there on the bank of the Sarasvatī. Immersing in it gives the fruit of the rājasūya.
• The Sthāṇu tīrtha and the Caturmukha liṅga. Brahmā went to the Sannihita lake, famed in the three worlds and the destroyer of all pāpas, and in the holy Sthāṇu tīrtha served by ṛshis, on the northern bank of the Sarasvatī, he installed Caturmukha and worshipped him every day with incense, lamp, sandal and food-offerings and the recitation of the Rudrasūkta, until Bhagavān Nīlalohita came to him himself. The Maheśvara liṅga worshipped at the beginning of creation on the northern bank of the Sarasvatī is called the Caturmukha liṅga. By bowing to it with śraddhā and bhakti every pāpa is removed.
• The Brahmaliṅga. Of the four liṅgas Brahmā set up, the fourth, the Brahmaliṅga, is on the bank of the Sarasvatī. These four Brahma-tīrthas are supremely holy, and those who fast and see them gain the supreme goal. One who sees and worships with bhakti, in the Kali yuga, the liṅga on the bank of the Sarasvatī is freed from all pāpas and gains the supreme goal.
• The waters of the Sannihita lake. A dog that had been, in its former birth, a keeper of the wealth of the deva at the Sthāṇu maṭha who let that wealth be destroyed, fled alone from Dvaitavana to the holy Sannihita lake. There, by the grace of Sthāṇvīśvara, it dipped in the Sarasvatī to quench a terrible thirst, and it was freed from all pāpas. Wet from her waters it came to the hut where Vena‘s son was tending his father, King Vena, and the drops from its body fell on Vena; by this, by his son’s daily tīrtha waters and by the glory of the Sthāṇu tīrtha, Vena crossed over and gained a divine body.
• Culuka tīrtha, which lies on the far side of the Sarasvatī: the devatās told Vena’s son to bathe in each tīrtha in order, from the Ojasa tīrtha to the Culuka tīrtha, for those who bathe in them with śraddhā become free.
• Koṭitīrtha, on the bank of the Sarasvatī, famed in the three worlds. When tapasvīs came in crores, pressing on one another for darśana of Bhagavān Śiva, he gave them darśana in a crore forms; so he is named Rudrakoṭeśvara there, and the Koṭitīrthas were established.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 57; Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 16, 18, 20, 26, 28

Prahlāda’s yātrā along the Sarasvatī

Pulastya Maharshi told Nārada of the tīrtha-yātrā (pilgrimage) of Prahlāda. At Badarikāśrama that learned devotee bathed with bhakti in the waters of the Sarasvatī, and at the Varāha tīrtha served Bhagavān Vishṇu, whose vāhana is Garuḍa. Later he came to Koṭitīrtha on the bank of the Sarasvatī, bathed there, worshipped Rudrakoṭeśvara and offered tarpaṇa to the pitṛs, the Vasus and the devatās. He went to Kurujāṅgala and had darśana of Sthāṇvīśvara, the husband of Pārvatī, worshipped by the devas, immersed in the holy waters of the Sarasvatī. He bathed in the Sarasvatī river, dipped in the Daśāśvamedha tīrtha and worshipped the devas and pitṛs. At the incomparable Prabhāsa kshetra on the shore of the ocean he bathed at the saṅgama of the Sarasvatī and the ocean and had darśana of Someśvara, the Lokanātha; in that very place Candra, whose kalās had waned by Daksha‘s śāpa, worshipped Bhagavān Śiva and regained his lustre by the grace of Śiva and of Śrī Vishṇu. Pulastya ended: one who sings this account of Prahlāda’s yātrā, hears it or passes it on to others is freed from all pāpas.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 53, 57

At Badarikāśrama and Naimisha

Badarikāśrama, in the region of the Himālaya, is the land of the tapas of Nara and Nārāyaṇa, and the supremely holy river Sarasvatī flows there. To that āśrama Bhagavān Śiva came as a Mahākāpālika seeking bhikshā (alms), and Nārāyaṇa, the son of Dharma, gave it. Later, with Brahmahatyā clinging to him, Bhagavān Śiva came there again and, not finding Nara and Nārāyaṇa, went to bathe: the Yamunā began to dry up as he came, and the river Plakshajā too was dry.

Once Prahlāda, king of the daityas, came with his daityas and dānavas to bathe at Naimishāraṇya, and roamed the forest on a hunt. There he had darśana of the river Sarasvatī with her pure water, and close beside it he saw a sāla tree with great branches, pierced by arrows with no gap between them, the point of each against the next. Further on he found the two tapasvīs Nara and Nārāyaṇa, with their divine bows Śārṅga and Ajagava.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 2–3, 7

Dvaitavana and the śrāddha of the devas

King Kuru, who knew that as long as one’s fame stands on the earth one may remain in svarga with the devas, travelled the whole world and came to the holy land of Dvaitavana. There he saw the Sarasvatī: the daughter of Brahmā, destroyer of pāpa, of holy form, Harijihvā, Plakshajā, the mother of Sudarśana. That Bhagavatī, surrounded by a koṭi of tīrthas, shines as a fine lake. The king gladly bathed in her holy waters and went to the Brahmavedi to the north, the finest land of dharma, named Samantapañcaka.

Mahāvishṇu told the devas that the Pṛthūdaka kshetra, which reaches as far as the Sannihita tīrtha, destroys the fear of pāpa. The holy tithi when Sūrya, Candra and Bṛhaspati are together in the Mṛgaśira nakshatra is called akshaya (imperishable). “Go there,” he said, “to the bank of the ancient Sarasvatī, perform śrāddha with bhakti and worship the pitaras.” The devas, with Indra at their head, went to Pṛthūdaka and bathed, and Bṛhaspati entered Mṛgaśira at their prayer. On the amāvāsyā of Āshāḍha joined with Mṛgaśira, Devendra offered piṇḍas (rice-balls) of sesame, honey and havishya to the pitaras in Kurukshetra. Pleased, the pitṛdevatās gave their daughter Menā Devī in marriage to Himavān.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 23–24

At the wedding of Bhagavān Śiva and the consecration of Skanda

When Bhagavān Śiva went forth to wed Devī Pārvatī, the rivers joined his procession. The Yamunā set out on a tortoise, holding a white cāmara (fly-whisk), and the Sarasvatī mounted an elephant, holding a cāmara white as the haṃsa, the kunda flower and the moon.

When Skanda was born, the devas came to Bhagavān Śiva and Devī Pārvatī and said: “Let us all go this very moment to the mighty and imperishable Kurukshetra tīrtha and consecrate this wondrous boy with the sacred waters of the Sarasvatī. He will be the leader of the armies of the devas, gandharvas and kinnaras, and he can slay Mahishāsura and Tārakāsura.” At Kurukshetra, Hari, Hara, Brahmā, Indra and the munis gave Guha the auspicious abhisheka (consecration bath) with the waters of the rivers, the seven seas and a thousand excellent herbs, and he was consecrated leader of all the deva armies while the gandharvas sang and the apsarās danced.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 27, 31

Suratha and Citrāṅgadā

Arajā told King Daṇḍa this account. Citrāṅgadā, the daughter of Viśvakarmā, gave herself to King Suratha though her friends forbade it, and her father pronounced a śāpa on her. As soon as those words of śāpa were spoken, the river Sarasvatī carried Suratha thirteen yojanas in her current and left him there. Citrāṅgadā fainted; her friends sprinkled the cool water of the Sarasvatī on her, and when she did not wake they went off for firewood and fire to cremate her. She came to, found herself alone, wept, and in despair fell into the Sarasvatī. That Kāñcanākshī Sarasvatī carried her with great speed and pushed her into the river Gomatī, full of waves and whirlpools, and the Gomatī pushed her into a great forest full of lions and tigers.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 37

Sources

• Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 2–3, 5, 7, 13, 23–24, 27, 31, 36–37, 53, 57
• Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 1, 11–13, 16–20, 26, 28