Chapter 49 - Glorification of Śūlabheda

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said:

1-9. After subduing Andhaka, Maheśvara, the Lord of Devas, Rudra, went to Kailāsa mountain along with Umā.

Then the Devas too led by Brahmā and including Vāsava came there. Delighted and contented, all of them bowed down to the Consort of Pārvatī.

Īśvara said:

O Pitāmaha! May all those who have come, sit here. For the sake of the Devas, the Dānava has been killed. On account of his blood my trident cannot be free from impurities. O Brahmā, one engrossed in a splendid Vrata, penance and Japya (utterance of holy names) has been killed. O Four-faced Lord, I wish to perform an elaborate pilgrimage. All those of you who have assembled here may come along with me.

After saying thus, the Lord of the chiefs of Devas set out towards Prabhāsa. Beginning with Prabhāsa, he took bath in all the Tīrthas between Gaṅgā and the ocean. Still, O king, there was no clearance from impurity. Then the Lord went to Narmadā along with the Devas. He, fond of austerity as he was, took bath on the northern as well as southern bank. He then went to a spot named Bhṛgu on the mountain on the southern bank. O king, staying there along with the Devas, Mahādeva wandered over many places. Getting dejected ultimately he sat down.

10-16. Since that spot appeared fascinating to all the heaven-dwellers, Lord Maheśvara considered it a special Tīrtha (of unique features) and stayed there.

He pierced the mountain with his trident. Thereby Rasātala too got split then and the trident became free from impurities. No stain or pollution was seen anywhere.

The highly meritorious Bhāratī was invoked there by the Devas. The highly meritorious Sarasvatī issued forth from the mountain. Here, there is a second confluence like that of white and black (waters) at Veṇī (Prayāga). Brahmā himself installed the excellent Brahmeśa Liṅga. It is highly meritorious and destructive of all miseries. Lord Janārdana himself is stationed to the south thereof. The river is ever present there at the tip of the foot of Viṣṇu. There was no outlet to the water as it stood held up within the walls of the pit. With the tip of the trident, a line was drawn. Thereupon, O king, the water began to flow and it fell into the great river Revā.

17-28. The Jalaliṅga is the highly meritorious Cakratīrtha, O excellent king. The Lord of Devas himself duly performed the holy ablution at the spot Śūlabheda. He considered himself pure as if no sin had been committed. To the northern quarter thereof the Lord of Devas, the preceptor of the universe, the trident-bearing Lord of the chiefs of Devas established himself.

Among all the Tīrthas that alone was the holiest place and consisted of all Devas. It is meritorious and destructive of all sins and miseries. The preceptor of the universe installed the Lord of Devas in that Tīrtha and released{GL_NOTE::} (appointed) one hundred eight guardian-deities, the one hundred eight Vināyakas. Those one hundred eight Kṣetrapālas cautiously guard it.

Obstacles hinder one who wishes to stay there. Some people are engrossed in domestic worries; some, in agriculture; some organize meetings; some are engaged in earning money; some indulge in indirect allegations; some are always engaged in violence; some are infatuated with other men’s wives; some destroy the means of sustenance of others. Others offer excuses like: “How can we go to the Tīrthas? The wife is afflicted with hunger and so the sons and servants and others.” The men are kept entangled in the nets of illusion by the groups of Devas.

Men who are habitual sinners do not get the opportunity for the holy ablution (here). Groups of the servants of Devas always protect that Tīrtha. Men who are blessed and meritorious do get the opportunity for the holy ablution in Sarasvatī, Bhogavatī and especially in the celestial river (Gaṅgā). This confluence is meritorious like that of white (Gaṅgā) and black (Yamunā) currents at the Veṇī (Prayāga). On seeing the Tīrtha, all the Devas became delighted in their minds.

29-S9. They went to the presence of the Lord and began to extol: “O Lord of Devas! This Tīrtha is on a par with your Gayātīrtha. Another Tīrtha, the most secret of all secret Tīrthas, like this was never there nor will there ever be.” The Trident-bearing Lord was worshipped by Indra and others, the groups of Apsarās, Yakṣas, Kinnaras, Gandharvas, the Guardians of the Quarters and of the worlds. Through dances and songs and prayers, he was worshipped by all the Suras and Asuras, by Gaṇas and by all the Siddhas, Nāgas and others. Maheśvara was worshipped by them. O king, the spot was pierced by the Lord with the tip of his trident. Even today the eddy filled by the Suras is seen in three distinct ways. The group of three Kuṇḍas, O tiger among men, is great and is always full of confused noise. It is destructive of all sins. It dispels all miseries and it is excellent.

A person who takes his holy bath there after observing fast duly, is rid of a year’s sins even if he has not received initiation (Dīkṣā) and knows no Mantras.

Those who duly take the holy ablution with (the utterance of) five Mantras mentioned in the Vedas along with auspicious pots filled with gold, or with ten syllables, six syllables or three syllables (they attain better fruit).

O king, twice-born ones should perform the requisite rituals separately in the Tīrtha. In the case of Brāhmaṇas, Kṣatriyas and Vaiśyas as well as of women and Śūdras (the mode is the same). They should duly perform the holy bath after meditating upon ihe three generations. Men who drink water uttering the ten-syllabled Mantra, go to the great world of Lord Maheśvara. Water drunk from Rudrakuṇḍa is like that drunk in Kedāra.

40-48. The syllable Kṣa used in conjunction with five Rephas (letter Ra) is honoured by Suras (“Rakṣa, Rakṣa” repeated five times) used along with Oṃkāra (ten-syllabled Mantra) should be known as praiseworthy.

A person who controls his sense-organs and duly performs the holy ablution and offers libations to the Pitṛs and the deities with water mixed with gingelly seeds, shall redeem the members of his family upto twenty generations, ten before and ten after him.

One who performs Śrāddha in the Śūlabheda Tīrtha shall undoubtedly obtain that merit which a man who performs Śrāddha in the five holy spots including Gayā gets.

If the devotee makes Dāna duly, the merit is everlasting. Even his Duṣkṛta (evil) turns to be Sukṛta (merit).

Just as Gayāśiras is always meritorious in regard to the rites unto the Pitṛs, so also Śūlabheda Tīrtha is meritorious by means of holy baths, libations and Dānas. A Kṣatriya should make the following thirteen gifts to a Brāhmaṇa who has mastered the Vedas, is of noble parentage, who has controlled his sense-organs, is clean, who is richly endowed with scholarship and mastery of the Vedas, is free from hypocrisy and who regularly performs his duties. The gifts shall be made on thirteen days and the merit thereof shall be thirteen times more. The gifts should be in the form of gold, cow, earth (plot of land), gingelly seeds, seat, a pair of shoes, bed, excellent horses, a pair of clothes, grains, a furnished house, a plough with the tie to the yoke and a cultivated field.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The reading “rakṣapālān muktvā” (releasing the guardians or guards) appears defective. If ‘muktvā’ is emended as ‘yuktvā’, “appointing guardians”, it makes better sense. In Devanāgarī script ‘yu’ (#) and ‘mu’ (#) in MSS appear alike. Hence ‘muktvā’ might have been read (composed) for ‘yuktvā’.