Chapter 98 - The Greatness of Prabhāsa Tīrtha

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Note This is different from the Prabhāsa which is on the western coast of Kathiawar and is famous for its Somanātha temple. This one is a sacred place associated with Revā.

Śrī Mārkandeya said:

1-7. Thereafter, O great king, one should go to the excellent Prabhāseśvara which is well-known in all the three worlds as an excellent flight of stairs unto heaven.

Yudhiṣṭhira said:

O dear one, do recount to me, how did Prabhāsa originate as the bestower of a flight of stairs unto heaven and as a visible one having great benefits. Do describe it to me succinctly without delay.

Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said:

The wife of Ravi well-known as Prabhā was unfortunate. Śaṃbhu was formerly propitiated by her through a very severe penance.

For a year she stood taking in only air and for another year she was engaged in meditative absorption. Thereupon, O son of Pāṇḍu, Mahādeva was pleased with Prabhā.

Īśvara said:

Why do you undergo suffering, O maiden? What is desired to be said may be spoken. Indeed I am one with Bhāskara. There is no duality between us.

Prabhā said:

O Lord Śaṃbhu, excepting her husband no woman has any other Lord anywhere. He may or may not have good qualities; he may be wealthy; he may be amenable to love or prone to hatred; husband is a deity unto women.

But, O Lord of Sureśvara, it is my misfortune that I am scorched and distressed in the midst of my companions as I do not get the happiness due from a husband. Hence I undergo very great distress.

Īśvara said:

8-15. With my favour you will be a darling unto Bhāskara.

Pārvatī said:

If Bhāskara does not take your word as an authority, the sufferings (i.e. penance) of this Prabhā would become futile, O Parameśvara.

The dispeller of darkness was thought about (mentally summoned) by Maheśa at the instance of Umā. Bhānu (Sun) came down from the sky on to the bank of Narmadā.

Bhānu said:

O slayer of the demon Aghāsura, O Lord, why have I been summoned?

Īśvara said:

O Bhānu, protect Prabhā according her the greatest contentment.

Umā said:

O destroyer of fog and mist, may you be pleased always to stay in the palace of Prabhā. O Ravi, let her be made the chief wife among all the wives.

Bhānu said:

O lady of excellent countenance, O goddess, I shall carry out your words of advice.

On hearing this, Prabhā was summoned. She requested Maheśvara:

Prabhā said:

O Lord, O Consort of Umā, O slayer of Manmatha, may you be pleased to be present here permanently by a part of yours. Let one part be placed here for opening the Tīrtha.

Śrī Mārkanḍeya said:

16-25. A Liṅga constituted by all the Devas was installed there, O son of Pāṇḍu. It is a rare Liṅga well-known in all the worlds as Prabhāseśa.

All the other Tīrthas yield benefit in due course, but, O great king, Prabhāseśa bestows the desired benefit immediately.

Especially on the seventh day in the bright half of the month of Māgha, a devotee should offer a horse to a Brāhmaṇa of the qualities mentioned before. Indratva (status of Indra) or the region of Bhāskara is obtained by him, O king.

One should make the gift over to a Brāhmaṇa after taking holy bath with great devotion. A donor of cow attains heaven or Satyaloka, O king.

The cow should be auspicious, beautiful in every limb. She should be young, splendid and yielding plenty of milk. She should be adorned with a bell. She should have her calf with her (in that Dāna). A brass pot for milking should be given along with her. Those who make this gift, O excellent king, do not go to the abode of Yama.

One who bathes the deity with great devotion attains the highest world and stays there until the annihilation of all living beings. Merely by the bath all wretchedness is dispelled, O Pāṇḍava.

A person who devoutly offers at this Tīrtha a virgin in marriage to a Brāhmaṇa of the proper age and on a par with him in respect of nobility of the family, character and financial status, O great king, even if he is a great sinner, gets his sins dissolved like salt in water.

26-35. All these sins (mentioned below) are dissolved, O son of Pāṇḍu, through the gift of a virgin (in marriage): sin resulting from an act of treachery against the master; that of one who misappropriates money deposited; that of a slayer of a friend; that of an ungrateful person; sin arising from perjury; sin arising from demolishing a park in a village; carnally approaching other men’s wives; sin due to usury; sin due to committing a theft; sin of destroying a well; sin of one guilty of Biḍālavrata (vow of a cat i.e. hypocrisy); arrogance; sin of felling trees; sin of prohibiting marital alliance; sin of cutting down a tree in a park; sin of cohabiting with a woman of the prohibited type; sin of coveting other man’s wife after forsaking one’s own wife; sin due to misappropriating a Brāhmaṇa’s wealth; sin of a person administering poison; that of a cow-killer; sin arising from selling learning; sin in associating (with sinners); the terrible sin of killing dogs and cats, serpents and Śūdras; sin of a person unlawfully possessing landed property after taking it by force; sin of prevention of gifts to Brāhmaṇas; and misdeeds against cows and fire etc.

After going to the world of Bhāskara, he proceeds to the auspicious Rudraloka. He sports about in Rudraloka for a period of the reign of fourteen Indras. When all the sins are dissolved, the faith in Śiva is generated in him. One who visits this Prabhāsa Tīrtha, O son of Pāṇḍu, attains the benefit of all the Tīrthas and that of a horse-sacrifice.

Gift of a cow is highly meritorious and destructive of all sins. It is praiseworthy on every occasion but particularly on the fourteenth lunar day.