Chapter 186 - Greatness of Nāgasthāna

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Īśvara said:

1-6. Thereafter, O great goddess, a pilgrim should go to the excellent shrine of Nāgasthāna. It has gone up to the three Saṅgamas (confluence) to the west of Maṅkīśa. It is a great crevasse leading to Pātāla. It is destructive of sins of all creatures.

Formerly, O goddess, after hearing about the passing away of Kṛṣṇa through an arrow piece at the Bhalla Tīrtha, Balabhadra came to Prabhāsa^[1].

After realizing that the holy spot was highly powerful and capable of bestowing all the achievements of all the objects and having brought about the destruction of all Yādavas, he became disgusted with the world.

In the form of Śeṣanāgeśa, he issued forth from his body and proceeded towards the great Traisaṅgama Tīrtha.

Then he saw the passage unto Pātāla in the form of a crevasse. Entering it he quickly went to the place where Ananta was present himself.

7. Since he entered this place in the form of a serpent, O goddess of Devas, this spot became famous as Nāgasthāna from that time onwards.

8. Where he cast off his body to the east of Nāgarāditya that spot is famous even now as Śeṣasthāna.

9-10. O great goddess, the devotee should take his bath in the Trisaṅgama Tīrtha. On the fifth lunar day he should observe fast and worship Nāgasthāna. Then he should perform Śrāddha and give monetary gift within his capacity to the Brāhmaṇas. He shall be relieved of all miseries. He shall go to Rudraloka.

11. With Śeṣanāga in view, the devotee should feed a Brāhmaṇa with milk and honey along with various kinds of foodstuffs. This in effect shall be on a par with the feeding of a crore Brāhmaṇas.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Now called Bhālakā Kuṇḍa, the spot of Kṛṣṇa’s death. It is at a short distance behind Somanātha Temple. But the episode given here is not found in Mbh.