Śoṇa (River)

Śoṇa, “the red one”

Śoṇa has other meanings too: see all meanings of Śoṇa. Viśveśvara has other meanings too: see all meanings of Viśveśvara.

The Śoṇa is a holy river of Bhārata. The Agni Purāṇa, which Agni Deva taught to Vasishṭha Maharshi, counts her among the excellent tīrthas, with Lauhitya tīrtha, the river Karatoyā and Ṛshabha tīrtha. In the fifty-five names of Śrī Mahāvishṇu, each to be remembered at its own holy place, the Śoṇa is the place where Bhagavān Vishṇu is to be remembered as Viśveśvara (lord of all).

The Bhāgavata Purāṇa names the Śoṇa as a nada, a river counted as masculine, beside the great rivers of Bhārata, and tells that Balarāma bathed in the Śoṇa on his tīrthayātrā.

Among the excellent tīrthas

Agni Deva told Vasishṭha Maharshi the glory of the tīrthas, which grants bhukti (worldly enjoyment) and mukti (release). Only one whose hands, feet and mind are held in restraint, and who has learning, tapas and good name, gains the full fruit of a tīrtha. The tīrtha-yātrī who gives up accepting gifts, eats measured food, keeps his senses in check and is free of pāpa gains the fruit of all yajñas; the fruit that comes from yajñas comes from tīrtha-yātrās. One who has not fasted for three nights and has not gone on tīrtha-yātrā becomes poor.

After Vārāṇasī, the best of all tīrthas, and Prayāga, the king of tīrthas, Agni Deva named the tīrthas of the east. Rājagṛha is a holy tīrtha, and Śālagrāma is excellent and destroys pāpa. Then he said: “Lauhitya tīrtha, the river Karatoyā, the Śoṇa and Ṛshabha tīrtha are also excellent.”

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 109

Bhagavān Vishṇu as Viśveśvara

Agni Deva taught the fifty-five names of Śrī Mahāvishṇu, each to be remembered at its own place. One who does japa of these names gains the fruit of mantra-japa and the imperishable puṇya of pūjā at the tīrthas. At Pushkara one remembers Puṇḍarīkāksha, at Gayā Gadādhara, at Citrakūṭa Rāghava; at Kurukshetra Vāmana, at the Yamunā Trivikrama, and at the Śoṇa, Viśveśvara. Then come Kapila at the eastern ocean, Vishṇu at the great ocean and Vanamālī at the meeting of the Gaṅgā and the ocean.

The phala: one who remembers Bhagavān Vishṇu in this way gains bhukti and mukti, and one who does japa of these names gains everything. Śrāddha, dāna, japa and tarpaṇa done at these kshetras are multiplied a crore-fold, and the one who does them becomes one with Brahman after death. One who reads these names, and one who hears them, is freed of pāpa and attains svarga.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 305

Per Bhāgavata Purāṇa

A nada of Bhārata

Śrī Śuka Maharshi, telling Parīkshit Mahārāja of Bhārata varsha, says that it has many mountains, twenty-seven of them named, from Malaya to Kāmagiri, and hundreds and thousands more, and that from their middle parts arise countless nadas and nadīs. Then he names forty-two great rivers, in this order: Candravaśā, Tāmraparṇī, Avaṭodā, Kṛtamālā, Vaihāyasī, Kāverī, Veṇī, Payasvinī, Śarkarāvartā, Tuṅgabhadrā, Kṛshṇā, Veṇyā, Bhīmarathī, Godāvarī, Nirvindhyā, Payoshṇī, Tāpī, Revā, Surasā, Narmadā, Carmaṇvatī, Sindhu, Mahānadī, Vedasmṛti, Ṛshikulyā, Trisāmā, Kauśikī, Mandākinī, Yamunā, Sarasvatī, Dṛshadvatī, Gomatī, Sarayū, Rodhasvatī, Saptavatī, Sushomā, Śatadru, Candrabhāgā, Marudvṛdhā, Vitastā, Asiknī and Viśvā; and with them the nadas Andha and Śoṇa. Andha and Śoṇa are called nadas, rivers counted as masculine, apart from the nadīs. The people of Bhārata bathe in the waters of these rivers, which purify one merely by the remembrance of their names.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 19

Balarāma bathes in the Śoṇa

After Balarāma slew the asura Balvala at Naimisha and the maharshis blessed him, he set out on a tīrthayātrā, which Śrī Śuka Maharshi tells Parīkshit Mahārāja place by place. From Prayāga he went to the āśrama of Pulaha Maharshi; then he bathed in the Gomatī, the Gaṇḍakī, the Vipāśā and the Śoṇa; then he went to Gayā and worshipped the pitṛs, and from there to the meeting of the Gaṅgā and the sea.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 79

Sources

• Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 109, 305
• Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 19; Skandha 10, Chapter 79