Gaṅgāsāgara

Gaṅgāsāgara · gaṅgā-sāgara, “where the Gaṅgā meets the ocean”

Gaṅgāsāgara is the tīrtha where the Gaṅgā meets the ocean. The Bhavishya Purāṇa names it three times: among the tīrthas whose water is contemplated in the abhisheka of Bhagavān Sūrya, in the bath mantra of the Jātismara-Bhadravrata, and, as the Gaṅgāsāgara-saṅgama, among the places for the Hiraṇyagarbha-dāna.

In Bhagavān Sūrya’s abhisheka

Brahmā tells Rudra the rite of the abhisheka. On Pushya śukla saptamī abhisheka is done to the Devadeva by rule. Sūrya‘s image is set up by the Vedic method, and clean water is brought from a puṇya tīrtha or any pure source. Holding the names of the puṇya tīrthas in the mind, one makes the bhāvanā, the inner contemplation, that the water is the water of each of them, in order: Prayāga, Pushkara, Kurukshetra, Naimiśa, Pṛthūdaka, Candrabhāgā, Śoṇa, Gokarṇa, Brahmāvarta, Kuśāvarta, Bilvaka, Nīlaparvata, Gaṅgādvāra, Gaṅgāsāgara, Kālapriya, Mitravana, Śuṇḍīra-kshetra, Cakratīrtha, Rāmatīrtha, Vitastā, Harshapantha, Devikā, Gaṅgā, Sarasvatī, Sindhu, Narmadā, Vipāśā, Yamunā, Tāpī, Śivā, Vetravatī, Godāvarī, Payoshṇī, Kṛshṇā, Veṇyā, Śatarudrā, Pushkariṇī, Kauśikī and Sarayū, and all the other puṇya tīrthas, seas, āśramas and kshetras. After this snāna one worships, bows, and gives dhūpa and arghya.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 55

In the Bhadravrata bath

In the rite of the Jātismara-Bhadravrata, which Śrī Kṛshṇa teaches Yudhishṭhira, the bath mantra salutes the one who is first of all devas and of the worlds, the pati of beings, plants and rasas, and calls for the presence of the waters of Gaṅgāsāgara, Pushkara, the Narmadā, the Yamunā and Sānnihatya. After reciting it one bathes, wears clean cloth, and does sandhyā and tarpaṇa.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapters 13–14

A place for the Hiraṇyagarbha-dāna

Śrī Kṛshṇa names the places for the Hiraṇyagarbha-dāna: Prayāga, Naimisha, Kurukshetra, Arbuda, the Gaṅgā, the Yamunā, the Gaṅgāsāgara-saṅgama and the banks of holy rivers, or a pure place such as the house, a devālaya, a garden or a tank.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 176

Sources

• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 55; Uttara Parva, Chapters 13–14, 176