Bālāpendratīrtha is a holy tīrtha on the bank of the river Śābhramatī. It is named in honour of Bālavatī, the daughter of the ṛshi Kaṇva, who kept a ten-year vow to the Sun here. The tīrtha is also called Mahishatīrtha (or Mahiśatīrtha), after a buffalo that died in its waters and was reborn, through the merit of the tīrtha, as the son of the king of Kānyakubja.

Bhagavān Sūrya declared that a pure man who stays here for three nights and sees the reddish Sun at dawn goes to Sūryaloka. The tīrtha is said to be more meritorious than Prayāga because the water here flows from east to west.

How it got the name Bālāpendra

The main name, Bālāpa or Bālāpendra, comes from Bālavatī. Bhagavān Sūrya appeared before her and declared that the tīrtha would bear her name. The Purāṇa says: “This excellent holy place will be known by your name. It is known as Bālāpa. It stands on the bank of Śābhramatī. It is well-known in the three worlds.” The tīrtha bears the name of the woman whose great devotion and hard tapas (austerity) made it holy.

The second name, Mahishatīrtha

A second account adds to the greatness (māhātmya) of the tīrtha. A trader had left an old buffalo, too old to carry loads. The buffalo came to the river to drink, fell into the mud and died. Only the touch of his bones to the holy water of this tīrtha caused him to be born again as the son of the king of Kānyakubja. In that life he remembered his former birth. He came back to bathe, to give gifts and to set up a liṅga of Bhagavān Maheśvara. This double account shows the power of the tīrtha: it frees even animals that touch its water without any such intention.

Greatness and rites

A pure man who stays here for three nights and sees the reddish Sun at sunrise goes to Sūryaloka.
Bathing here and making offerings to the devas and to the ancestors is especially meritorious on a Sunday, on Saṃkrānti, on the seventh tithi, during the solar and lunar passages at the equinoxes, and at eclipses.
Pūjā to the reddish Sun here with karavīra and japā flowers earns a home in Sūryaloka.
The water that flows here from east to west is declared holier than Prayāga.
Gifts given here are inexhaustible in merit: a cow, land, sesame, gold, garments and grain.

Sources

Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 152