Mandarāraṇya
Mandarāraṇya · mandara-araṇya, “the forest of Mandara”
Mandarāraṇya, “the forest of Mandara“, is a holy forest named as a tīrtha in the Brahma Purāṇa’s great list of the tīrthas and kshetras of the earth, in Chapter 25, the Sarva-tīrtha-māhātmya, “the glory of all the tīrthas”. It is among the first names of that list, with the great holy forests and kshetras at its head. The Purāṇa gives it by name only, with no word on where it lies or how it came by its name.
In the list of tīrthas
Asked by the brāhmaṇas how many holy tīrthas and kshetras there are on the earth, the teller, whom they address as the knower of dharma, first speaks of the inner tīrtha. One whose hands, feet and mind are under control, and who has jñāna (knowledge), tapas and a good name, gains the fruit of serving all the tīrthas. When the mind, speech and senses are pure, these are tīrthas within one’s own body, and they show the path to svarga. If the inner faculty is corrupt, no number of baths makes it pure, just as an impure toddy pot is not made pure though washed a hundred times. Tīrthas, dānas, vratas and āśramas cannot purify one of bad nature, a hypocrite whose senses roam unchecked. Wherever a person lives with the senses restrained, that very place is for him Kurukshetra, Prayāga and Pushkara. Then he names the tīrthas and kshetras of the earth, more than four hundred of them, beginning with Pushkara. Mandarāraṇya comes twentieth, among the great kshetras at the head of the list. The list opens with Pushkara, Naimishāraṇya, Prayāga and Dharmāraṇya, and names the holy forests Campakāraṇya, Saindhavāraṇya, Magadhāraṇya, Daṇḍakāraṇya and Bhīmāraṇya before it. Directly before it come Kuśasthalī, Lohākula and Kedāra; Mahābala, Koṭi-tīrtha and Sarvapāpahara-tīrtha follow it.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 25
The rite and its phala
The chapter gives one rite for all the tīrthas of the list. One who serves these tīrthas with śraddhā (faith), performs the bath and the other prescribed acts, keeps the fast, is master of the senses, offers tarpaṇa (libations of water) to the devas, the ṛshis and the pitṛs, worships the devatās, and fasts there for three nights, gains distinct and endless fruits, and by them the fruit of the aśvamedha yajña. “There is no doubt,” the teller says.
The phalaśruti of the chapter: one who hears or reads this glory of the tīrthas every day is freed from every pāpa (sin).
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 25
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 25