Pañcatīrtha (Purushottama-kshetra)

Pañcatīrtha · pañca-tīrtha, “the five tīrthas”

Pañcatīrtha has other meanings too: see all meanings of Pañcatīrtha.

The Pañcatīrtha, “the five tīrthas”, are the five sacred bathing places and stations of Purushottama-kshetra, the kshetra of Bhagavān Vishṇu as Jagannātha on the shore of the southern ocean. The Brahma Purāṇa names them as the Mārkaṇḍeya-hrada, the Kṛshṇa-vaṭa (the great banyan), Balarāma, Mahodadhi (the great ocean) and the Indradyumna-saras. King Indradyumna established them when he built the temple of Saṅkarshaṇa, Kṛshṇa and Subhadrā. Brahmā tells the munis how the pañcatīrtha yātrā is made, above all in the month of Jyeshṭha, and the fruit of the bath, the dāna and the darśana at each place: freedom from the pāpas of seven births, Vishṇu-loka, and the place from which there is no return.

Established by Indradyumna

In the Kṛta yuga, King Indradyumna, a devotee of Vishṇu, came to Purushottama-kshetra with his army and performed an aśvamedha there with abundant dakshiṇā. He built a lofty temple for the Svāmī and installed in it Saṅkarshaṇa (Balarāma), Kṛshṇa and Subhadrā. He established the pañcatīrtha, performed snāna, dāna, tapas and homa, had darśana of the deity, worshipped Hari daily with bhakti, and by the Svāmī’s grace attained moksha. Brahmā says that one who has darśana of Mārkaṇḍeya, of Kṛshṇa and of Balarāma and bathes in the Indradyumna-sāgara surely attains moksha.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 43

The munis’ question

When Brahmā had told how Bhagavān Vishṇu revealed himself to Indradyumna as Purushottama, the munis asked: “When and how should the Purushottama-kshetra yātrā be made? What is special about the pañcatīrtha? What fruit comes from bathing in each of its tīrthas, from dāna, and from the darśana of the deity?”

Brahmā began his answer. The fruit of tapas done in Kurukshetra for seventy thousand years, without food, standing on one leg, is gained in this kshetra merely by fasting on Jyeshṭha śuddha daśamī and seeing Jagannātha. In the same month of Jyeshṭha one should make the pañcatīrtha yātrā and see Purushottama on śuddha dvādaśī; by this one attains Vishṇu-loka for ever.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 51

The stations of the yātrā

Brahmā then sets out the bath, the dāna and the darśana at each place, in order.

  1. Mārkaṇḍeya-hrada. Facing north, pure, one bathes three times with the mantra to Tripurahara: “Protect me, drowned in the ocean of saṃsāra… Īśvara, see, I am bathing. May my pātaka perish.” Bathing in water up to the navel, one offers tarpaṇa with sesame and water to the devas, ṛshis and pitṛs, goes three times round the temple, worships Mārkaṇḍeyeśvara with the mūla-mantra and the Aghora-mantra, and praises him: “O Trinetra, O Candrabhūshaṇa, O Virūpāksha, protect me. O Mahādeva, namaskāra to you.” The fruit is that of ten aśvamedhas, Śiva-loka until the pralaya, a birth as a brāhmaṇa learned in the Veda, sālokya and sārūpya with Bhagavān Śiva, and then moksha.
  2. The kalpa-vṛksha, the banyan. One worships it with its mantra (“You are the manifest form of the unmanifest Paramātmā… You do not perish at the end of the kalpa. You are the dwelling of Hari. Remove my pāpa”) and goes round it three times. One is freed from pāpa as a snake from its slough; its shade frees even from brahmahatyā; bowing to Bhagavān Vishṇu in this form, born from the body of Kṛshṇa, gives the fruit of the rājasūya and aśvamedha and Vishṇu-loka.
  3. Garuḍa. One who bows to the Garuḍa mūrti standing before Kṛshṇa is rid of all pāpa and attains Vishṇu-loka. One who sees the banyan and Garuḍa and then Purushottama, Saṅkarshaṇa and Subhadrā goes to the supreme goal.
  4. Saṅkarshaṇa. Entering the temple of Vishṇu and going round it three times, one worships Saṅkarshaṇa with his mantra and seven namaskāras: to the bearer of the plough, the holder of the musala, the beloved of Revatī, the foremost of the strong, the bearer of the earth, the slayer of Pralambāsura, the elder brother of Kṛshṇa. By the grace of Balarāma one goes to Vishṇu-loka until the pralaya, is then born as a brāhmaṇa in a family of yogīs, and attains mukti.
  5. Kṛshṇa (Purushottama). One worships Hari with the dvādaśākshara mantra, with sandal and flowers, chanting “Jaya, jaya!”, and prays: “Purushottama, save me from the ocean of saṃsāra, whose foam is sorrow and whose whirlpools are moha.” Meditating on his lotus-eyed mūrti and bowing to it gives the puṇya of a thousand aśvamedhas; his darśana gives the fruit of bathing and dāna in all the tīrthas, a hundred kalpas of joy, Vishṇu-loka, a noble birth, Vaishṇava jñāna and mukti.
  6. Subhadrā. One worships Subhadrā, loving to her devotees, and bows with the mantra “namaste sarvage” (“salutation to you who go everywhere”). One goes in a vimāna that moves at will to Vishṇu-pura, and in time attains mukti.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 57

The five tīrthas named

Mārjana with sea water and the morning bath in the Mārkaṇḍeya-hrada give the highest fruit of puṇya; bathing on the caturdaśī and the pūrṇimā gives the fruit of an aśvamedha. Then Brahmā names the five: the Mārkaṇḍeya-hrada, the Kṛshṇa-vaṭa, Balarāma, Mahodadhi and the Indradyumna-saras are called the pañcatīrtha. Serving them at the puṇya-kāla when the Jyeshṭha pūrṇimā falls together with the Jyeshṭhā nakshatra is declared supremely auspicious. One who is pure in thought, word and deed, bathes, goes round the banyan and three times round Bhagavān Vishṇu is freed from the pāpas of seven births.

The bath in the ocean, the king of tīrthas, follows with its nyāsa of “oṃ namo nārāyaṇāya”, the Nārāyaṇa kavaca, the bath mantra, the aghamarshaṇa ṛks, the sandhyā and the tarpaṇa on the bank. After worshipping Nārāyaṇa on the shore, one bows to Balarāma, Kṛshṇa, Subhadrā and Samudra and gains the fruit of an aśvamedha. After the sea bath one serves the Indradyumna-saras, the tīrtha that arose in the body of the Yajña-purusha, with the mantra “aśvamedhāṅga-sambhūta”; tarpaṇa there gives the fruit of ten aśvamedhas, lifts up seven generations before and seven after, and takes one in a vimāna to Vishṇu-loka.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapters 60, 62–63

Jyeshṭha and the times of the year

  • One who fasts on ekādaśī, serves the five tīrthas and has darśana of Purushottama on Jyeshṭha śuddha pūrṇimā reaches the place of puṇya from which there is no return.
  • When the munis asked why Jyeshṭha is praised above Māgha and the other months, Brahmā said: from Jyeshṭha śukla daśamī, for seven days, all the tīrthas stay in Purushottama-kshetra, so even a little puṇya done here then becomes imperishable. That daśamī takes away ten kinds of pāpa and is called Daśaharā; darśana of Balarāma, Kṛshṇa and Subhadrā on that day gives Vishṇu-loka.
  • One who serves the pañcatīrtha at the vishuvas (the equinoxes) and serves the three mūrtis shares in the fruit of all yajñas and goes to Vishṇu-loka.
  • One who has darśana of Purushottama on the Jyeshṭha pūrṇimā with the Jyeshṭhā nakshatra lifts up twenty-one generations and reaches the Vishṇupada.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 63

Sources

  • Brahma Purāṇa, Chapters 43, 51, 57, 60, 62–63