Prabhāsa is one of the most sacred tīrthas (holy places of pilgrimage) on the western coast of Bhārata. It lies in the Saurāshṭra region of present-day Gujarat, near the town of Somnath, at the place where the river Sarasvatī meets the western ocean. It is the home of the Somanātha Jyotirliṅga, the first and most honoured of the twelve Jyotirliṅgas of Bhagavān Śiva. It is also the place where the Yādava line ended and where Bhagavān Kṛshṇa left this world at the end of the Dvāpara Yuga.

Name and Soma

The name Prabhāsa means “the brilliant” or “the lustrous”. The Varāha Mahā Purāṇa calls it one of the most sacred soma-tīrthas, tīrthas linked with Soma, the Moon.

The Purāṇas say the Moon was struck by a curse of Daksha that made him wane little by little. He came to this coast and did tapas (austerity) to Bhagavān Śiva. Bhagavān Śiva appeared and softened the curse, so that the Moon would wax and wane in turn and not shrink away altogether. In thanks, Soma set up a liṅga here, which became Somanātha, “the lord of the Moon”. There Bhagavān Śiva as Somanātha is worshipped without a break.

The Varāha Mahā Purāṇa also tells, in Chapter 35, how Soma was restored through the churning of the ocean. Prabhāsa on the western coast is traditionally linked with that restoring of Soma.

Prabhāsa in the Mahābhārata’s Vana Parva

In the Vana Parva, Lomaśa names Prabhāsa among the tīrthas of the western circuit when he tells the Pāṇḍavas of his pilgrimage. He says that those who bathe here and keep the proper rites gain great puṇya (merit).

Gauramukha at Prabhāsa

The nature of the tīrtha

In the Varāha Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 13, the ṛshi Gauramukha settled at Prabhāsa and worshipped Bhagavān Vishṇu there for a long time, after the events at Naimisha. He finally reached liberation here.

Mārkaṇḍeya tells Gauramukha:

“Those who know how to look on tīrthas call the deva here ‘Daitya-saṃhāraka’ (destroyer of daityas). Such is Hari, worshipped here at this Prabhāsa.”

The deva of Prabhāsa is Bhagavān Vishṇu as the destroyer of the daitya forces. It is the same Bhagavān Vishṇu who, as Gauramukha had seen at Naimisha, sent the Sudarśana cakra against the forces of Durjaya.

Arrival and worship

After the wonders at Naimisha (the gem, the battle and Bhagavān Vishṇu’s help), Gauramukha decided to worship Hari at Prabhāsa. Mārkaṇḍeya Mahāmuni came there and confirmed the greatness of the tīrtha.

Gauramukha then kept:

Twelve years of pitṛ-pūjā (honouring the ancestors), with the full rules of śrāddha taught by Mārkaṇḍeya.
After that, the Daśāvatāra stotra to Bhagavān Vishṇu (Chapter 15).

The Daśāvatāra stotra

Gauramukha’s great stotra (hymn of praise) at Prabhāsa is the fullest praise of the avatāras in the Varāha Mahā Purāṇa. It covers all ten avatāras in order. It opens by praising Śrī Hari as the great one, Prabhu Hari, who crushes the pride of his enemies. He has an auspicious form, and the knowers of brahman greatly desire him. He dwells in Sūrya, Candra and the Aśvins. He is Ādya and Purātana, the first and the ancient, and the slayer of asuras. Gauramukha says he praises him always.

After praising each of the ten avatāras, the stotra ends with Gauramukha bowing again and again to Purushottama, Bhagavān Vishṇu. He asks to be led on the path to moksha (liberation), and says namaskāra to him.

When the stotra was done, Bhagavān Vishṇu appeared before Gauramukha, holding his cakra and gadā.

Gauramukha’s liberation

Gauramukha saw the Paramātmā with full ātma-jñāna (knowledge of the self). He left his body and merged into the paratattva, the supreme reality: eternal, of the form of brahman, the deva-ātman, free from all vikāra (change). He reached the paramapada, the highest state. The Purāṇa says:

“That ṛshi Gauramukha, having seen the Paramātmā in this way, with unshaken ātma-jñāna, came out of his body. He merged into the imperishable Brahman, the eternal, the deva-ātman, the paratattva free from vikāra.”

The Yādava end at Prabhāsa in the Bhāgavata

The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Eleventh Skandha, tells that Prabhāsa is where the Yādava line destroyed itself, just before Bhagavān Kṛshṇa’s mahāprasthāna (great departure).

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa saw terrible signs gathering over Dvārakā: eclipses, earthquakes and other signs of coming ruin. He called the elders of the Yādavas to the Sudharmā sabhā (assembly hall) and told them the time had come to leave. He sent the whole clan, women, children and elders, to Śaṅkhoddāra. He himself led the men to Prabhāsa on the western shore, where the Sarasvatī flows west into the sea.

At Prabhāsa the Yādavas bathed, did pūjā, and gave great dāna (gifts) to brāhmaṇas as their last acts of puṇya. Then, through the Yogamāyā of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa and the curse of the brāhmaṇas, they drank wine at the shore and lost their wisdom. (The iron pestle of that curse came from a mocking pretence about a pregnant woman.) They turned on one another: fathers and sons, uncles and nephews, brothers and cousins fought and fell. They fought with blades of eraka grass that had grown from the powdered remains of the cursed iron pestle. The whole Yādava line destroyed itself at Prabhāsa.

After this, Balarāma left his body in yoga by the seashore. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa then withdrew to a pippala tree near the shore. He sat there in perfect stillness, and there the last act of his avatāra was done.

The Yādava end in the Mausala Parva

The Mausala Parva of the Mahābhārata gives its own account. When the dreadful signs grew over Dvārakā, Kṛshṇa saw that Kāla (Time) had come. He ordered a tīrtha-yātrā festival to Prabhāsa on the seashore. The Vṛshṇis, Andhakas and Bhojas went there with their wives and with plenty of food, drink and liquor, and camped in the pavilions made ready for them.

At Prabhāsa the great drinking feast began. In a quarrel between Sātyaki and Kṛtavarma, the old grievance of the Syamantaka gem was raised, and Satyabhāmā wept before Kṛshṇa. In the rage that followed, Sātyaki cut off Kṛtavarma’s head, and the drunken warriors fell on one another. When Pradyumna and Sātyaki were slain, Kṛshṇa himself took up a handful of eraka reeds. They turned in his hand into an iron muśala (pestle). Every blade of grass that any enraged man grasped became a pestle like it.

So, driven by the curse of the brāhmaṇas and by Kāla, fathers killed sons and sons killed fathers. The whole Yādava host, some fifteen hundred thousand strong, perished at Prabhāsa. The curse of Gāndhārī and the words of the brāhmaṇas led the Yādavas to destroy one another here.

Beside the sea at Prabhāsa, Balarāma withdrew into yoga, and a great white serpent came out of his mouth and entered the ocean. Kṛshṇa composed himself in yoga on the ground, and the hunter Jara struck him in the foot. He rose to his supreme abode. Kṛshṇa had earlier sat in meditation at the foot of a tree.

Arjuna and Kṛshṇa meet at Prabhāsa

During his twelve years of vanavāsa (forest exile), Arjuna came to Prabhāsa after his long pilgrimage through Gaṅgādvāra, Maṇipura and many holy places of the east and south. Word reached Kṛshṇa at Dvārakā that his dear friend was at Prabhāsa, and Kṛshṇa came at once.

They met after years apart, with great joy. They sat together, embraced, and talked at length of everything: Indraprastha, the marriages, the tīrthas Arjuna had visited, and what lay ahead. Kṛshṇa then asked Arjuna to come with him to Dvārakā, and Arjuna agreed. That journey from Prabhāsa to Dvārakā led straight to Arjuna’s first sight of Subhadrā at the Raivataka festival and to all that followed.

Prabhāsa in the Nārada Mahā Purāṇa

The Nārada Mahā Purāṇa, Uttarardha, Chapter 70, gives the Prabhāsa Māhātmya (the account of Prabhāsa’s greatness) as part of the Vasu–Mohinī saṃvāda (conversation). It says that no tīrtha in the three worlds equals Prabhāsa. Bathing here gives bhukti (enjoyment), mukti (liberation) and puṇya. Those who bathe here rival the dwellers in svarga themselves.

Measures and the abode of Viśveśvara Somanātha

Girijāpati Viśveśvara, who is also called Somanātha, lives at Prabhāsa. The sacred kshetra-kuṇḍa (the holy ground) of Prabhāsa is twelve yojanas wide. In its central five-yojana area lies the pīṭhikā, the sacred seat. At the very centre of this pīṭhikā is a spot only the size of a piece of leather (carma-mātra-prādeśa). It is declared more distinguished than even Kailāsa. Bathing at Prabhāsa and worshipping Somanātha gives moksha.

The pilgrim circuit

The chapter describes a long pilgrim circuit of many liṅgas, tīrthas and shrines of devas (devatā-sthāna):

Arkasthala-tīrtha. Siddheśvara and a thousand other liṅgas are set up here. Whoever bathes with devotion, offers tarpaṇa (water offering) to the pitṛs (ancestors) and the devas, and worships the liṅgas reaches Rudra-loka.
Agni-tīrtha (on the seashore). Bathing here leads to Agni-loka. Worshipping Kapardīśa with upavāsa (fasting) brings one’s wishes in this life and Śiva-loka after it.
Fourteen liṅgas in order. Among them are Kedāreśa, Bhīmeśa, Bhairaviśa, Caṇḍeśa, Bhāskareśvara, Aṅgāreśa, Gurv-Īśa, Someśa, Bhṛgujeśvara, Śani, Rāhu and Śikheśa. Each is worshipped one by one. In the end they lead the devotee to Śiva-loka, with the power of both anugraha (favour) and nigraha (restraint).
Siddheśvara and the five chief liṅgas (Pañcānya). Worshipping these gives siddhi (spiritual power) in this world and the next.
Śakti-tīrthas. Varārohā, Ajāpālā, Maṅgalā and Laliteśvarī. Worshipped in order, they remove pāpa (sin).
Lakshmīśvara, Bāḍaveśa, Arghyaśa and Kāmakeśvara. Worshipping these gives Lokeśatva, lordship over the worlds.

Further along the circuit:

Cakra-tīrtha. Bathing here and doing pūjā of Gaurī gives the vara (boon) one wants.
Sannihati-tīrtha. It gives its own special sannihati-phala.
Ādinārāyaṇa. Gives moksha.
Cakradhara. Gives victory over enemies.
Sāmbāditya. Cures disease and brings wealth.
Scores of shrines of Bhagavān Śiva and of Śakti are found all through the circuit, and each gives its own boons.

Hiraṇyā-saṃgama and Kṛshṇa-sāyujya near Nagarāditya

At the Hiraṇyā-saṃgama, bathing and giving a golden chariot to a brāhmaṇa gives akshaya lokas (worlds that never end). Near Nagarāditya, one first worships that form of Bhagavān Sūrya. Then one has darśana of Balarāma, Kṛshṇa and Subhadrā and worships them in the proper way. That person reaches Kṛshṇa-sāyujya, oneness with Bhagavān Kṛshṇa.

Piṅgalā-nadī

Whoever bathes in the Piṅgalā-nadī and with devotion performs śrāddha there for the devas is freed from all future birth: they will not be born again (the text says mārāla janma-na-ndaru). Worshipping Saṃgameśvara on the way also ensures that one has no bad gati (destination after death).

Raivataka and the Dāmodara Gṛha

Among the holy spots of the circuit, the Raivataka hill has many tīrthas where Brahmā, Vishṇu, Maheśvara and all the lokapālas are worshipped, to gain bhukti and mukti. The Dāmodara Gṛha gives supreme happiness to those who have its darśana. At the Prabhāsa-nābhi-sthāna, worshipping Bhagavān Śiva in his Vastrāpatha form gives the bather a state equal to Bhagavān Śiva himself.

Phalaśruti

No tīrtha in the three worlds is equal to Prabhāsa. Those who bathe here vie with the dwellers in svarga. Keeping a written copy of this Prabhāsa Māhātmya in one’s home wards off fear of ghosts, thieves, fire and other dangers. Hearing or reciting this Māhātmya leads to sadgati (a good end).

Sources

Varāha Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 13, 15 (Gauramukha at Prabhāsa); Chapter 35 (the restoring of Soma)
Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Eleventh Skandha, Chapters 30–31
Nārada Mahā Purāṇa, Uttarardha, Chapter 70
Mahābhārata, Vana Parva (Lomaśa’s tīrtha-yātrā)
Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Chapter 218
Mahābhārata, Mausala Parva, Chapters 2–4
General Purāṇic sources (Soma’s curse and the Somanātha liṅga)