The Sarayū is the most sacred river of Ayodhyā and one of the great rivers that give moksha (liberation) in the Purāṇas. It flows from Mānasa lake in the Himālaya and runs along the north of Ayodhyā. It meets the Ghargharā (Goghrā) at Gopratāra. At that place, at the close of the Tretā Yuga, Rāma and the whole city of Sāketa entered svarga. The Skanda Mahā Purāṇa says that the Sarayū is Brahman itself in the form of water. Its touch is held equal to the Gaṅgā’s in removing even the pāpa (sin) of brahmahatyā.

Origin in the Skanda Purāṇa and the Mahābhārata

The Purāṇas give two origins for the Sarayū. In the Ayodhyā Māhātmya of the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, the Sarayū came forth from the big toe of the left foot of Bhagavān Hari, just as the Gaṅgā came from the big toe of his right foot. Both rivers thus rise from the form of Bhagavān Hari, so both are equal in merit and equally honoured by the devas. A bath in either removes the pāpa of brahmahatyā.

The Mahābhārata (Anuśāsana Parva) gives another account: Mānasa lake (Mānasarovara in the Himālaya) is the Sarayū’s source. The Ayodhyā Māhātmya also says the river is fed by Mānasa lake, and that its sparkling clear waters flow south to embrace Ayodhyā.

(Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Ayodhyā Māhātmya, Chapter 1)

Sacred character

The Sarayū is called “full of holy water”, “wakeful and watchful”, and “the loftiest in the world in sanctity”. The hum of bees and the song of birds echo on its banks. Great ṛshis have made their homes on its banks for good. The Māhātmya declares:

“Sarayū is Brahman itself in the form of water. It always bestows moksha. There is no question of experiencing the effects of karma here. The man assumes the form of Rāma.”

Merely to visit the Sarayū gives more merit than any of these: śrāddha at Gayā; living in Kāśī for thousands of Manvantaras; living in Mathurā for a Kalpa; going to Pushkara and Prayāga in Māgha or Kārttika; or a plunge in the Gaṅgā for sixty thousand years.

(Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Ayodhyā Māhātmya, Chapter 10)

The boundary of Ayodhyā

The Sarayū is the northern boundary of the sacred kshetra of Ayodhyā. In the south the Tamasā is the other boundary. The sacred zone reaches one yojana to the east, starting from Sahasradhārā, and one yojana to the west, up to Samatā. This zone is shaped like a fish, with its head pointing west between Gopratāra and Asita. It is said to rest not on the earth but on the Sudarśana Cakra of Bhagavān Vishṇu, and never truly to touch the ground.

(Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Ayodhyā Māhātmya, Chapter 1)

Main tīrthas on the Sarayū

These tīrthas lie in the waters of the Sarayū or on its banks, inside the sacred zone of Ayodhyā.

Cakratīrtha: Made when Bhagavān Vishṇu dug the earth with his Sudarśana Cakra and brought out Gaṅgā water, at the request of Vishṇu Śarmā.
Brahmakuṇḍa: East of Cakratīrtha. Brahmā made it after his pilgrimage to Ayodhyā. A yearly festival is held there on Kārttika Caturdaśī.
Ruṇamocanā: Frees a person from all debts, spiritual and worldly. It is in the waters of the Sarayū, north-east of Brahmakuṇḍa.
Pāpamocanā: Destroys all pāpa. It is in the waters of the Sarayū, east of Ruṇamocanā.
Sahasradhārā: The place where Lakshmaṇa merged into Śesha. Śesha broke through the ground in a thousand places and made a thousand streams. It is now the most famous tīrtha on the eastern bank.
Svargadvāra: The gateway to svarga. All the tīrthas of the three worlds gather here every morning. Here Rāma and all the people of Sāketa entered svarga.
Gopratāra: The meeting of the Sarayū with the Ghargharā (Goghrā). It is the highest tīrtha of Ayodhyā. All tīrthas gather here in Kārttika.

(Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Ayodhyā Māhātmya, Chapters 2–6)

The Mahāprasthāna at the Sarayū

At the close of Bhagavān Rāma’s time on earth, Vasishṭha arranged the Mahāprasthāna rites. The whole city of Sāketa followed Rāma to Svargadvāra on the Sarayū. They were the citizens, the monkeys, the rākshasas, the animals and birds, and all beings that move and do not move. Rāma touched the water with his feet. Brahmā came with all the devas, and Bhagavān Rāma entered his highest divine form. His followers plunged into the Sarayū at Gopratāra and were carried to the Santānika Loka, a world beyond Brahmaloka made for them. The Sarayū thus became, in the fullest sense, a doorway between this world and the world of Bhagavān Vishṇu.

(Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Ayodhyā Māhātmya, Chapter 6)

Origin in the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa

The Yātrā Khaṇḍa of the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa gives a longer account of the Sarayū’s origin. Bhagavān Vishṇu got back the stolen Vedas and was filled with joy. His tears of joy fell on the Himālayan heights and gathered into Bindu Sarovara (the lake of the divine drop). Vaivasvata Manu was doing tapas at Bindu Sarovara. At Bhagavān Vishṇu’s word, he shot an arrow into the lake. The blow broke the lake’s bank, and the divine waters began to flow south. They became the Sarayū. Her waters are thus full of Bhagavān Vishṇu’s joy at the return of the Vedas: a river of holy bliss flowing to the city of his own avatāra.

In Sarga 9 of the same khaṇḍa the text names Mānasa Sarovara as the place where the Sarayū was born, as the Skanda Purāṇa also says.

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa also records that during Rāma’s preparations for his tīrtha-yātrā, Lakshmaṇa split the Sarayū into a second channel. The place of this division was named Dadri.

(Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Yātrā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 4 and 9)

Rāma names the Sarayū the foremost river

When Rāma’s Aśvamedha Yāga was complete, on Rāma Navamī, Bhagavān Śiva asked Rāma to declare the Sarayū the foremost of all rivers. Rāma gave the vara and said:

“By my word, among all rivers Sarayū is the foremost. No river like Sarayū exists anywhere nor will ever come into being. Therefore Rāma-tīrtha on the Sarayū is consecrated with my tejas and is the supreme among all tīrthas. A Caitra snāna at Rāma-tīrtha yields the combined merit of an Aśvamedha Yāga, Gomedha, Somayāga, Kurukshetra eclipse snāna, Māgha snāna at Prayāga, Kārttika pañca-Gaṅgā at Kāśī, and Vaiśākha snāna at Dvārakā.”

Rāma also ordered all the devas to live in the outer waters (bahir-jala) of the Sarayū in the month of Caitra every year, so that the river is filled with divine presence in that month. By Rāma’s own ājñā (command), every person, whatever their age, health or sex, must bathe at Rāma-tīrtha in Caitra.

(Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Yāga Khaṇḍa, Chapter 9)

Sources

Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Ayodhyā Māhātmya, Chapters 1–10
Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Yātrā Khaṇḍa, Sargas 4 and 9
Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Yāga Khaṇḍa, Sargas 6, 8 and 9
Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva