Kapalamocana: An ancient Holy Place

Kapalamocana—An ancient Holy Place [kapalamocanamh pracinam pavitrasthanam] / By Devendra Handa; Basic Training College, Sardarshahar / 148-153

[ kuruksetrantargatanivistesu tirthesu kapalamocananamakam prasiddham tirtham vartate sarasvatikule yasyollekhah puranesu mahabharate ca savistaram drsyate | atrasminnibandhe tasya tirthasyotpattyakhyanam vinirdisya puranadinam varnanadharena utkhananavivaranadharena tasya mahattvam vinirdharitam | kapalamocanam tirtham 'hariyana ' rajyantargatasya 'ambala ' janapadasya 'jagadhari ' 'tahasila ' ityasmin sthitam | tasya tirthasya pracinam nama ausanasatirthamasit | usanasah tivrena tapasa atra siddhilabho'bhut | kapalamocananamavisaye srakhyanadvayam prapyate | prathamakhyananusaratah dandakaranye bhramatah ramasya banena kasyacidraksasah sirah bhinnam tacca 'rahodara ' 'mahodara ' va namadharinah kasyacinmaharseh janghayam samlagnamabhut | nanatirthesu bhramatastasya janghaya yada kapalasya mocanam nabhut tada rsinamupadesatah srasanasatirtham jagama | tatra snanena kapalamocanam cabhut | sraparakhyananusaratah sivena brahmanah sirah kartananamtaram sa brahma- vadhyabhibhuto'bhut | brahmanah sirasca sivasya kare samlagnam jatam | brahma- hatyabhibhutayah savatsayah goh srausanasatirtham snanam papamukti ca drstva sivo'pi tatra snatah kapalanmuktisvapta ato'sya tirthasya kapalamocanam nama | asya tirthasya mahima puranesu bahutra varnita vartate | utkhananapramanairidam suvyaktam susthiram ca bhavati yadidam tirtham pracinam prasiddham casit | asmin tirthe samipasthapradese ca hindudevidevanam nanamurtayah samupalabdha jatah kecit silalekha api praptah ye srasya tirthasya mahattvakhyapakah | ] Kapala-mocana¹ is situated on the eastern bank of the Sarasuti', about 15 km north-east of Jagadhari in the Jagadhari tahsil of district Ambala, Haryana Prant. It lies on the Jagadhari-Dhanaura metalled road and can also be approached 1. Sometimes written as Gopala Mocan also, e.g., in the Ambala District Gazetter (ADG), Lahore 1925. p. 143. 2. It has been identified with the ancient Sarasvati river,

149 July, 1968] KAPALA-MOCANA : AN ANCIENT HOLY PLACE from Sadhaura, nearly the same distance north of it as Jagadhari, by a metalled road which joins the Jagadhari-Dhanaura road near Bilaspur, about 3 km. south of it. Kapala-mocana is an ancient holy place of the Kurukshetra region. Its antiquity is evidenced by its numerous references in the Mahabharata and the Puranas and the archaeological remains it has yielded. Its Name: 3 Earlier, this place was called Ausanasa or Sukra tirtha after Usana or Sukra who, having propitiated the God, was perfected here and attained the status of a planet. The noble Sukra performed severe austerities and planned the battle between gods and demons at this very place. The legend of naming it as Kapala-mocana has been given at length in the Mahabharata and the Vamana Purana. It is told that while living in the 3. usana yatra samsiddha aradhya paramesvaram | grahamadhyesucyate sa tasya tirthasya sevanat || Vamana Purana (VP), XLII, 25. Also see VP, XXXIX, 1. 4. tatra purva tapastaptam kavyena sumahatmana | tatrasthascintayamasa daityadanava-vigraham || 5. Mahabharata (Mbh. ), Critical edition IX. 38, 6. pura va dandakaranye raghavena mahatmana | vasata dvijasardula raksasastatra himsitah || tatraikasya siraschinnam raksasasya duratmanah | ksurena sitadharena tatpapata mahavane || mahodarasya tallagnam grivayam ca yadrcchaya | vane vicaratastasya hyasthi bhitva vivesa ha || sa tena lagnena tada vihattu na sasaka ha | abhigamya mahaprajnastirthanyayatanani ca || sa tu tenapi sravata vedanamta mahamunih | jagama sarvatirthani prthivyam yani kanicit | tatah sa kathayamasa rsinam bhavitatmanam | te'bruvannrsayo vipra prayahyausanasam prati || tesam tadvacanam srutva jagama sa mahodarah | tata prausanasam tirtham tasyapah sprsatastada | 6

150 puranam - PURANA [Vol. X., No. 2 Dandaka forest, Rama severed the head of a wicked raksasa in a public place; the segregated head leaped up and of its own accord, struck the thigh of the sage Mahodara (Rahodara according to the VP.) who was roaming in that great forest. With the skull of the raksasa clung in his thigh, the sage felt much difficulty in visiting temples and pilgrimages. However, he visited all the holy places of the world somehow and narrated the story of his affliction to all he met. But he could not get rid of the skull anyway. Then hearing from some other sages that the most excellent and famous Ausanasa tirtha on the bank of the Sarasvati is the destroyer of all sins and the best place for the attainment of prosperity and welfare, he went to the Ausanasa tirtha and sipping the water from the palm of his hand, took bath in the holy waters of the Sarasvati. With the touch of the holy water while taking bath, that skull left his thigh, dropped in the water and disappeared. Thus released by the skull, the sage felt much pleasure. The pious and grateful sage returned to his hermitage happily and narrated the whole account to all the sages who lived there. All those sinless sages went there and named the place as the Kapala-mocana tirtha. There is another legend also. It is said that the god Siva, in order to rescue Sarasvati who was being chased by Brahma, struck off the latter's head. A lock of Brahma's hair was left in his hand and his body was blackened. Siva could not cleanse himself for a long time. One night he was resting in a cowshed where he over-heard a conversation between a cow and her calf. The calf revealed its intention of killing the master, a Brahmana, to avoid being castrated. The cow tried to dissuade the calf tacchirah caranam muktva papatarntajale dvijah | tatah sa viraja bhutva putatma vitakalmasah || srajagamasramam pritah kathayamasa cakhilam | a srutva rsayah sarve tirtham mahatmyamuttamam || kapalamocanamiti nama cakruh samagatah | 6. ADG, p. 143. Mbh., IX. 38, 11-20; VP., XXXIX, 5-14.

July, 1968] KAPALA-MOCANA: AN ANCIENT HOLY PLACE 151 from the sin of Brahma-hatya, but the calf answered that it knew of a sacred pool where it could cleanse itself from that sin. Next day, the calf killed its master as a result of which the bodies of the calf and cow were blackened. The blackness, however, was cleansed by taking a bath in the Kapala-mocana. Siva also followed their example and was likewise cleansed. The waters of the Kapala-mocana are said to have retained their virtue since then and are considered to be more efficacious than the waters of the Ganga at Haridvara. ITS IMPORTANCE AND SANCTITY: Kapala-mocana has been described as famous in all the three worlds - trisu lokesu visrutam It is the destroyer of all sins- sarvapapapramocanam, ' and a man gets rid of the sin of the murder of a Brahmana by taking a dip here.10 Those who worship this excellent tirtha attain the highest position and the one who performs a sraddha with faith in this tirtha, doubtlessly liberates all his forefathers." The person who worships this holy place on the fifth day of the fortnight becomes affluent." A man gets rid of all the possible since of life here and attains salvation. 13 It was here again that Sukra performed severe austerities and planned the battle between gods and demons; it was here that Usana attained the status of a planet." This tirtha was visited by Parasurama.16 It finds mention as a holy place elsewhere also." 7. Cf. Garuda Purana, LII, 6. 8. Mbh. III. 81, 116-17; Padma P. I. 27, 24; Matsya P. XXII, 29. 9. Mbh. III, 81, 118; PP I. 27, 26, 10. Garuda P., XLII, 6. 11. VP., XLII, 26-27. 12. VP., XLII, 24. 13. tasminpunye kuruksetre patakairjanmasambhavah | mukto yati param brahma yato navartate punah || VP., XXXIX, 2. 14. VP., XXXIX, 1 and XLII, 25. 15. Mbh. IX. 38, 6. 16. Mbh. IX, 38, 4. 17. VP., III, 49-51; MP, XXII, 31; Brihannaradiya P. II, 65, 105-6 & 121 ; etc.

152 THE TIRTHA : puranam - PURANA [Vol. X., No. 2 Kapala-mocana is a natural hollow near the bank of the Sarasvati river which has been dammed up to form a Kunda or pool. On the eastern side of the kunda near the edge of the water, there is a rough weather-worn stone, about 20 inches square and 8 inches high bearing a very crude representation of a human skull at each of the four corners.18 The people who do not know the actual Kapala-mocana story, hold it to be the real Kapalamocana which gives the name to the pool also. Another weatherworn stone is called Gai-bacha, or the "Cow-and-Calf" from its general resemblance to their forms.19 This must have been a rough representation of the other episode of the baptism of this tirtha. Two miles north of Kapala-mocana there is another hollow of the same kind known as Brahma-Kunda. To the south of the Kapala-mocana also is a sacred holy tank called Rina-mocanaa square of nearly 500 feet, the north and west banks being faced with stone steps 20. Rina-mocana finds mention in the VamanaPurana. 21 ITS ARCHAEOLOGY: There is a high mound immediately on the bank of the Kapala-mocana tank and just over the Kapala-mocana stone. It is about 100 feet square at base and seems to consist of a solid mass of bricks with some fragments of stone." Cunningham discovered two fragmentary inscriptions and some ornamental stones which formed part of an old temple in the Gupta period as indicated by the characters of the inscriptions and the designs and execution of carvings on the ornamental pieces which are similar to the style to be seen at Bhilsa and Eran. Many fragments of 18. Sir Alexander Cunningham, Archaeological Survey Report (CASR), XIV, pp. 75-76. 19. Ibid. 20. Ibid. 21. VP. 41, 6 ff. 22. Cunningham, op. cit. 23. Ibid., p. 77.

July, 1968] KAPALA-MOCANA: AN ANCIENT HOLY PLACE 153 carved bricks, of small size, were also found. Amongst the numismatic finds were three coins, one being a small silver piece of Indo-Sassanian type with the letter m between two attendants at the fire-altar and the other two common copper coins of Samanta Deva. 24 Rodgers procured a hemidrachm of Strato and several coins of Menander in the bazars of Sadhaura. He was informed by the local people that those coins had come from Kapalamocana.2 Rodgers mentions the ruins and remains of temples consisting of sculptured fragments dug up on the site of the present buildings or in their immediate vicinity. The sculptures were chiefly of Hindu gods, but some of them were architectural ornamentations and were exceedingly beautiful. 26 The present writer, in his exploration of the site, saw the remains of an old temple lying burried in the ground, some carved stones fixed in the walls of modern buildings, rough and worn-out sculptures, not able amongst them being the figures of Gaja-Laksmi and Ganesa, lingas and portions of carved stone pillars lying here and there near the Kapala-mocana tank. From its numerous references in the Mbh. and various Puranas and the archaological remains it has yielded, it is clear that Kapala-mocana was an important holy place in ancient times. It is still visited by many pilgrims from the surrounding area every year but its importance seems to have been amply diminished now. 24. Ibid., pp. 77.78. 25. C. J. Rodgers, Revised List of Objects of Archaeological Interest in the Punjab, (Lahore, 1891), p. 53. 26. Ibid.