Chapter XV. Kurukshetra and Some Other Famous Tīrthas

Volume IV pp. 680–723

Chapter XV. Kurukshetra and Some Other Famous Tīrthas

Kurukṣetra (25 miles east of Ambala) is a very sacred tract, the history of which is lost in the midst of antiquity. In the Ṛgveda X. 33. 4 there is a reference to a king Kuruśravaṇa, son of Trasadasyu.¹ The Atharva-veda mentions a Kauravya husband (probably a king) who had a talk with his wife.² In the times of the Brāhmaṇas Kurukṣetra had become a very holy lanḍ The Śat. Br. (IV. 1. 5. 13) narrates the legend that the gods performed a sacrifice in Kurukṣetra and at first excluded the two Aśvins from any share in it (S. B. E vol. 26 p. 275). The Maitrāyaṇī saṃhitā (II. 1. 4., devā vai sattramāsata Kurukṣetre) and the Tai. Br. (V. 1. 1., devā vai sattram-āsata tasmīn Kurukṣetram vedir-āsīt) also say that the Gods performed a sattra in Kurukṣetra. The idea underlying these passages appears to be thiṣ The Vedic people of the Brāhmaṇa period held yajñas to be the dharma par excellence, as stated in Ṛg. X. 90. 16 (yajñena yajñam-ayajanta devāstāni dharmāṇi prathamānyāsan). Kurukṣetra was the centre of Vedic culture in the Brāhmaṇa period and sacrifices must have been performed there on a large scale. Hence it was called dharmakṣetra and as gods were supposed to have attained their position by what men believed to be dharma (yajña, tapas &c.) it is stated that gods performed sattras in Kurukṣetra. The same Brāhmaṇa mentions a Kauravya king Bahlīka Pratīpiya (XII. 9. 3. 3, S. B. E, vol. 44 p. 269). The Tai. Br. (I. 8. 4. 1) informs us that the Kuru-Pañcālas went towards the east in winter (śiśira) and to the west in summer which was the worst seasoṇ The references in the Ait. Br. are far more instructive. The legend about Kavașa in which Sarasvatī helps the sage has already been referred to above (p. 559 ṇ 1254). The Ait. Br. (8. 1 or II 19) calls that place, where Sarasvatī came rushing, ‘Parisaraka’. In another place the Ait. Br. tells us that in its time Nyagrodha (Ficus India) was called Nyubja in Kuru- ksetra,³ Elsewhere the Ait. Br. speaks of the countries of the Kurus and Pañcālas together with the Vaśa-Usinaras (38. 3=VIII. 14). The Tai Ā. narrates ⁴ that the gods performed a sattra and Kurukṣetra was their altar (for the sattra). The southern side of that Vedi (i. e. Kurukṣetra) was Khāṇḍava, the northern side was Tūrghna, the hinder part was Parīnah, and the country of Maru (desert) was the rubbish pit. This shows that Khāṇḍava, Tūrghna and Parīnah were border parts of Kurukṣetra and the Maru district was somewhat away from Kurukṣetra. The Śrautasūtras of Āśv. XII 6, Lāṭyāyana X. 15 ff and Kātyāyana ⁵ 24 6 5 ff closely follow Tāṇḍya and other Brāhmaṇas and mention several holy places at which parts of the Sārasvata sattras were performed such as Plakṣa Prasravaṇa where Sarasvatī starts, the Vaitandhava-hrada of Sarasvatī, the tract called Parīnah in Kurukṣetra, Yamunā flowing through the country of Kārapacava and the country of Triplakṣāvaharaṇa.

In the Chāndogya Upaniṣad (I. 10. 1 ff) occurs the story of Uṣasti Cākrāyana who, when the Kuru country was struck by hailstorms, lived with his very young wife in Ibhyagrāma and went begging for fooḍ

The Nirukta (II. 10) explains that ⁶Devāpi and Śantanu mentioned in Ṛgveda X. 98. 5 and 7 were historical persons and were brothers, sons of Ṛṣisena, a king of Kuru. Pāṇini (IV. 1. 151 and IV. 1 172) explains the formation of the word Kauravya from 'Kuru', the first in the sense of 'apatya', the second in the sense of 'king.'⁷ The Mahābhārata frequently speaks of the high sanctifying virtues of Kurukṣetra. It appears that the territory to the south of Sarasvati and to the north of Dṛṣadvati was included in Kurukṣetra and ⁸ that those who resided therein were as if residents of paradise. Kurukṣetra appears to be called Brahmāvarta in Vanaparva 86.6. According to the Vāmanapurāṇa, Kurujāṅgala is ⁹ the country between the Sarasvati and Dṛṣadvati, while Manu (II. 17, 18) defines Brahmāvarta as the country created by God between the two divine rivers Sarasvati and Dṛṣadvati, states that Brahmarsideśa which is slightly less (in holiness) than Brahmāvarta comprises Kurukṣetra, the countries of Matsya, Pañcāla and Śūrasena. From these passages it is clear that Brahmāvarta is the holiest country in Āryāvarta and that Kurukṣetra was almost like it; we have seen that in the times of the Brāh-manas the most sacred Sarasvati flowed through Kurukṣetra and that the place where Sarasvati disappeared in the desert was called Vinaśana and was itself a very holy place. Originally the land called Kurukṣetra is said to have been the Vedi (sacrificial altar)¹⁰ of Brahmā, then it came to be called Samantapañcaka (or syamanta–in some passages) when Paraśu-rāma made five pools of the blood of kṣatriyas in revenge for his father’s murder, which were subsequently turned into holy pools of water by the blessings of his pitṛs and lastly it came to be called Kurukṣetra when king Kuru, son of Saṁvaraṇa¹¹, ploughed the land with a golden plough for seven krośas all rounḍ Kurukṣetra is so called after king Kuru. Kuru is said to have asked of Indra the boon that the territory he ploughed might be ‘Dharmaksetra’ (domain of righteousness) and that those who may bathe or die there may reap a rich harvest of merit¹². The war between Kurus and Pāṇḍavas was fought there. It is spoken of as ‘Dharmaksetra’ in the opening verse of the Bhagavad-gītā. Kurujāngala is said to be a very fit country for śrāddha in Vāyu (77. 93) and Kūrma II. 20. 33 and 37. 36-37. In the 7th century the Chinese traveller Hiouen Thsang speaks of the country, the capital of which was Sthān-visvara (modern Thanesar which is the heart of Kurukṣetra) as the ‘land of religious merit’ (Beal's B. R. W. W. vol. I p. 184).

The extent of Kurukṣetra is said to be five yojanas in radius (in Vanaparva and the Vāmana Purāṇa)¹³. A some-what corrupt verse occurs in the Mahābhārata and some purāṇas¹⁴ about the limits of Kurukṣetra viz. the territory between Taranțu and Kārāntuka and between Macakruka (image of a yakṣa) and the Rāma-hradas (pools made by Paraśurāma)—this is Kurukṣetra, Samantapañcaka and the nor-thern vedi of Brahmā. The result is that Kurukṣetra is referr-ed to under various names viz. Brahmasaras, Rāmahrada, Samantapañcaka, Vināśana, Sannihatī (vide T. Pr. p. 463). For the boundaries of Kurukṣetra, vide Cunningham's A. S. R. of India, vol. XIV pp 86-106 where he notes that Kurukṣetra was 30 miles to the south of Ambala and 40 miles to the north of Panipat. In the remote past Kurukṣetra was the centre of all the activities and the culture of the Vedic people. Gradually the Vedic people spread towards the east and south and the country between the Ganges and Jumna and later on Videha (or Mithilā) became the centres of Indian culture.

For reasons of space it is not possible to dwell at length on the greatness and sanctity of Kurukṣetra as described in the Mahābhārata and the Purāṇaṣ Vanaparva 83 starts by saying that all beings that are in Kurukṣetra are freed from all sins and that he also who always says 'I shall go to Kurukṣetra, and I shall reside in Kurukṣetra' is freed from sins ¹⁵. 'In this world there is no place holier than thiṣ Even the particles of dust driven from Kurukṣetra by the wind take a great sinner to the highest goal' ¹⁶. Even the Ganges is compared to Kurukṣetra (vide note 1324 'Kurukṣetrasamā Gaṅgā'). The Nāradīya avers ¹⁷ that planets, constellations and stars are subject to the danger of falling down (from the sky) in course of time, but in the case of those that die in Kurukṣetra there is no falling on the earth again (i. e. they would not be born again).

It is a remarkable fact that though the Vanaparva in chap. 83 enumerates several tīrthas on the Sarasvatī and in Kurukṣetra, they do not at all tally with the tīrthas mentioned in the Brāhmaṇas and the Śrautasūtras (except Vināśana which is mentioned in Vanaparva 83.11 and probably Saraka which may be identified with Parīṣaraka of the Ait. Br.). This means that the Vanaparva account of Sarasvatī and Kurukṣetra is later than that in the Śrautasūtraṣ The Nāradīya by some centuries than that in the Śrautasūtraṣ (uttara, chap. 65) names about one hundred tīrthas in Kurukṣetra. It is not possible to set out all of theṃ But a few words may be said about some of theṃ First comes the lake called Brahmasaras or Pavana-hrada (Vanaparva 83. 85, Vāmana 49. 38-41, Nāradīya, uttara 65-95) on which Kuru stayed as an ascetic. A. G (pp. 334-335) remarks that the lake is 3546 feet long east to west and 1900 feet wide north to south. The Vāmanapurāṇa (22. 50-55) describes it at some length and says that it was half a yojana in extent. Cakratīrtha (mentioned by Vāmanapurāṇa 42. 5, 57. 89 and 81. 3) is popularly supposed to be the place where Kṛṣṇa took up the discus for attacking Bhīṣma. Vyāsas-thalī¹⁸ (named in Vanaparva 84 96, Nāradīya, uttarārdha 65. 83 and Padma I. 26. 90-91) is the same as modern Basthalī, 17 miles to the south-west of Thanesar where Vyāsa resolved to die on the loss of his soṇ Asthipura (Padma, Ādi 27. 62) is on the west of Thanesar and south of Auņasa-ghāṭ where the bodies of the warriors killed in the Great Bhārata war were cremateḍ Cunningham in Archaeological Survey Reports of India vol. II p. 219 states that Cakratīrtha is the same as Asthipura and that in Alberuni's time it was the most famous shrine in Kurukṣetra. Pṛthūdaka on ths Saras-vatī is very highly spoken of in Vanaparva 83. 142-149. 'They say ¹⁹ that Kurukṣetra is holy, that Sarasvatī is holier than Kurukṣetra, that the sacred spots (on Sarasvatī) are holier than the river Sarasvatī and that Pṛthūdaka is holier than all the other tīrthas on Sarasvatī. There is no tīrtha that is better than Pṛthūdaka'. The Śalyaparva²⁰ remarks that whoever, while intently engaged in repeating holy texts, abandons his life at Pṛthūdaka on the northern bank of the Sarasvatī would not be troubled by death next day (i. e. he would be free from birth and death) The Vāmanapurāṇa (39. 20 and 23) calls it Brahma-yonitīrtha. Pīthūdaka is modern Pehova in the Karnal District in Panjab, 14 miles to the west of Thanesar. Vide E. I. vol. I. p. 184 for the Pehova inscription from the temple of Garibnath dated in samvat 276 (of the Harṣa Era) i e. 882-883 A. D., which records the agreement of certain pious horse-dealers to impose on themselves and their customers certain taxes and tithes for the benefit of some priests and temples, one of which was the temple of Viṣṇu in his Yajñavaraha avatāra built at Pṛthūdaka.

The Vāmanapurāṇa (34, 3 ff) and Nāradīya (uttarārdha 65. 4-7) enumerate seven forests existing in Kurukṣetra as very holy and as destroyers of all sins, viz. Kāmyaka, Aditivana, Vyāsavana, Phalākivana, Sūryavana, Madhuvana and Sītāvana. Vide A. S. R. for India, vol. 14 pp. 90-91 for the vanaṣ In the Śalyaparva (chap. 38) it is said that the world is encompassed by seven Sarasvatīs, then they are enumerated and their locations are specified viz. Suprabhā (in Puṣkara, where Brahmā engaged in a great sacrifice remembered her, verse 13), Kāñcanākṣī (in the Naimiṣa forest, v. 19), Viśalā (invoked by Gayā in the Gayā country, verses 20-21), Manoramā (in Auddālaka's yajña in Uttarakośala, verses 22-25), Sureṇu (in Ṛṣabhadvīpa in Kuru's yajña, verses 26-27), Oghavatī (called by Vasiṣṭha in Kurukṣetra, verses 27-28), Vimalodā (when Brahmā again performed a yajña in the Himalaya). In the Vāmanapurāṇa 34. 6-8 seven rivers in connection with Sarasvatī are said to be very holy (but nine are actually enumerated) viz. Sarasvatī, Vaitaraṇī, Apagā, Gaṅgā-Mandākinī, Madhusravā, Ambunadi, Kauśiki, Dṛṣadvatī and Hiraṇvatī.

Kurukṣetra was also called Sannihāti or Sannihatyā. Vide those words in the list of tirthaṣ The Vāmanapurāṇa (32. 3-4) says that Sarasvatī springs from a plakṣa tree, that after piercing many hills it enters Dvaitavana. Vāmana (32. 6-22) contains a eulogy of Sarasvatī by Mārkaṇḍeya. Alberuni (Sachau, vol. I. p. 261) states that the river Sarasvatī falls into the sea at the distance of a bowshot east of Somnāth. There is a small but holy stream called Sarasvatī, that rises in the Mahīkāṇṭha hills and after crossing the south-east corner of Palanpur Agency passes by Siddhapura and Patan, flows under-ground for some miles and then enters the Ruṇn of Cuṭch (Boṃ G. vol. V. p., 283).²¹

MATHURA

Till now it has not been possible to trace an express Vedic reference to Mathurā, the chief city of the country of Śūrasena. But its existence from at least the 5th century B C. appears to rest on firm grounḍ It is stated in the Anguttaranikāya (I. 167, ekam samayam āyasmā Mahākaccāno Madhurāyam viharati Gundāvane) and Majjhima (II. 84 same words) that Mahākaccāyana, a famous disciple of Buddha, assiduously preached in Mathurā the principles of his Master. Megasthenes appears to have known Mathurā and its connection with Heracles²² (Hari-Kṛṣṇa ?). The word 'Māthura' (meaning a resident of Mathurā, or born in or coming from Mathurā) occurs in Jaiminī's Pūrva-mīmāṁsā-sūtra,²³ Though Pāṇini's sūtras do not expressly mention Mathurā, the latter is included in the Varaṇādī-gaṇa (Pāṇ. IV. 2. 82). Pāṇini is, however, aware of Vāsudeva and Arjuna (IV. 3. 98), the Andhaka and Vṛṣṇi clans of Yādavas to which Kṛṣṇa belonged (IV. 1. 114) and probably knew the name Govinda (III. 1. 138 and vārtika 'gavi ca vindeḥ sañjñāyām'). Mathurā is several times mentioned by the Mahābhāṣya of Patañjali who²⁴ in a famous passage refers to dramatic representations, paintings and stories which depict the destruction of Kamsa by Vāsudeva. He also cites a quarter of a verse about the killing of Kamsa by Vāsudeva as a well-known past event. Whether the town Śaurya mentioned in the Mahābhāṣya on Vārtika 2 on Pāṇini II. 4.7 (Śauryam ca Ketavatā ca Śaurya-Ketavate) is the same as Mathurā is doubtful, even though the Uttarādhyayanasūtra speaks of Mathurā as Śauryapura (S. B. E. vol. 45 p. 112). The Ādiparva (221. 46) indicates that Mathurā was famed for excellent cowṣ in those dayṣ When Hamsa and Dimbhaka, brave command- ers of Jarāsandha, drowned themselves in the Jumnā and when Jarāsandha sorrowfully went to Magadha Kṛṣṇa says 'we shall again joyfully reside in Mathurā' (Sabhāparva 14. 41-45). Ultimately Kṛṣṇa is said to have left Mathurā owing to the constant attacks of Jarāsandha and established the Yādavas in Dvārakā ²⁵ (Sabhāparva, 14. 49-50 and 67). The Brahma- purāṇa, on the other hand, states that the Vṛṣṇis and Andha- kas on the advice of Kṛṣṇa left Mathurā through the fear of Kālayavana. Vide also VI. V. 23. 8-15. The Vayu (88. 185) states that Śatrughna, the brother of Rāma, killed the demon Lavaṇa, son of Madhu and established Mathurā in Madhuvana while the Rāmāyaṇa (Uttara-kāṇḍa 70. 6-9) informs us that Śatrughna took twelve years to make Mathurā a fine and pros- perous city. In the Ghaṭa-jātaka (Fausböll, vol. IV. pp. 79-89 No. 454) Mathurā is called Uttara Mathurā (to distinguish it from Mathurā of the Pāṇḍyas in the south) and the story of Kamsa and Vāsudeva is narrated, which differs in some material points from the Mahābhārata and the Purāṇaṣ In the Raghuvamśa XV.28 it is mentioned as Madhurā and as founded by Śatrughna. Hiouen Thsang states that in Mathurā there existed in his day three stūpas built by Aśokarāja, that there were in Mathurā five Deva temples, 20 saṅghārāmas (Buddhist convents) with 2000 Buddhist priests (Beal's B. R. W. W. vol. I p 179). James Allan (in 'Catalogue of the coins of Ancient India' 1936, p. CXVI) states that the coins of the Hindu kings of Mathurā cover the period from the begin- ning of the 2nd century B. C to the middle of the first century B. C. For some ancient coins from Mathurā, the Cambridge History of India, vol. I p. 538 and plate V (No. 5-10) may be referred to. An interesting and informative work is 'Mathurā' by F. S. Growse (2nd eḍ 1880). Inscriptions contribute important evidence about the history and antiquity of Mathurā. ²⁶ The famous inscription of Khāravela (E. I. vol. XX. at p. 79) includes among the exploits of that king of Kalinga the retreat of the Yavana king Dimita to Madhurā (i. e. Mathurā). Several Inscriptions of such Kuśāņa rulers as Kaniṣka, Huviṣka and others relating to Mathurā have been published of which the following may be mentioned: Inscription on a Nāga image at Mathurā of ‘Mahārāja-rājātirāja Kanikkha in samvat 8 (E. I. vol. 17. p. 10)²⁷; the Mathurā pedestal Inscription of Kaniṣka in the 14th year (E. I. vol. 19 p. 96); inscription on the pedestal of the image of a seated Bodhisattva at Mathurā in the reign of Huviṣka in samvat 33 (E. I. vol. 8 pp. 181-182); Inscription of a king Vāsu (rest of the name lost) of the year 74 (E. I. vol. 9 p. 241) and of the time of Śoņdāsa (E. I. vol. 9 p. 246); seven Brāhmi inscriptions from Mathurā and its vicinity (E. I. vol. 24 pp. 194-210) There is further an interesting inscription recording the dedication of a stone slab in the temple of Nāgendra Dadhikarņa by Nandibala and other sons of some actor (Śaillālaka) brothers of Mathurā (E. I. vol. I. at p. 390). From the Viṣṇu-purāṇa VI. 8. 31 it follows that an image of Hari had been installed in Mathurā before that purāṇa was composed, The Vāyupurāṇa²⁸ informs us in a prophetic vein that seven Nāga kings will rule over Mathurā, Prayāga, Sāketa and Magadha before the Guptaṣ Alberuni’s India (vol. II. p. 147) states that Māhurā (Mathurā) is crowded with brāhmaņaṣ

From the above brief historical sketch it would appear that Mathurā was, five or six centuries before Christ, a flourish- ing city where the epic Hinduism prevailed, that later on Buddhism and Jainism dominated it, that there must have been a revival of Hinduism under the Nāga and Gupta emperors, that in the 7th century A. D., when Hiouen Thsang wrote, Hinduism and Buddhism were equally prominent and that in the 11th century A. D. it was completely dominated by the Brahmanic faith.

The Agnipurāṇa furnishes the strange information that Bharata at the command of Rāma killed three crores of the sons of Śaillūșa in the city of Mathurā³⁰ Mathurā has been the centre of Kṛṣṇa worship and of Bhāgavatism for over two thousand yearṣ The Varāha-purāṇa devotes about one thousand verses to the greatness of Mathurā and its sub-tīrthas (chap. 152–178). The Bṛhan-nāradīya, chapters 79–80, Bhāgavata X and Viṣṇu-purāṇa V–VI devote much space to Kṛṣṇa, Rādhā, Mathurā, Vṛndāvana, Govardhana and Kṛṣṇa's exploits there.

For want of space only a few verses about Mathurā will be set out here. The Padma (Ādīkhanda 29. 46–47) says 'Yamunā gives mokṣa when united with Mathurā; Yamunā gives rise to great merit in Mathurā and when united to Mathurā it bestows devotion to Viṣṇu'. In the Varāhapurāṇa (152. 8, 11) Viṣṇu says 'There is no place either in the nether regions or on the earth or in mid air as dear to me as Mathurā. Mathurā is a famous kṣetra of mine that confers mukti; no place is to me higher than it. It is my birth-place and it is lovely, commendable and dear to me'. The Padma says 'Mathuraka is a name extremely dear to Viṣṇu'. The Harivaṁśa contains a fine description of Mathurā, one verse from which may be quoted here 'Mathurā is the hump (i. e. the most eminent spot) of Madhyadeśa, it is simply the abode of the goddess of wealth, it is the horn (i. e. the most prominent part) of the earth, there is nothing like it and it is endowed with abundant wealth and agricultural produce'.³¹

The tract round about Mathurā is said to be 20 yojanas in extent and the city of Mathurā was in its midst ³². The Varāhapurāṇa and the Nāradīya (uttarārdha) chapters 79–80 mention numerous tīrthas in and about Mathurā. It is not possible to enumerate them here. A few important ones will be noticed briefly. Both Varāha (chap. 153 and 161 6–10) and Nāradīya (uttarārdha 79. 10–18) mention twelve forests near Mathurā viz. Madhu, Tāla, Kumuda, Kāmya, Bahula, Bhadra, Khadira, Mahāvana, Lohajangha, Bilva, Bhāndira and Vrndāvana. There are also 24 upavanas enumerated by Growse on ‘Mathurā’ (p. 76) which are not mentioned by the purāṇas but only by later workṣ Vrndāvana ³³ was to the north-west of Mathurā on the Yamunā and was five yojanas in extent (Viṣṇupurāṇa V. 6. 28-40, Nāradīya, uttarārdha 80. 6, 8 and 77). It was the scene of Krsna’s adventures and love-making The Padma IV. 69 9 speaks of it as a portion of Vaikuntha on the earth. The Matsya (13. 38) identifies Rādhā in Vrndāvana as Devī Dāksāyanī.³⁴ In Kālīdāsa’s day it had great fame. In Raghuvamśa VI, while describing Susena of the Nipa family, Vrndāvana is said to be no less charming than Caitraratha, the park of Kubera (verse 50). Then there is the Govardhana ³⁵ hill, which Krsna lifted up on his little finger to afford shelter for seven days to the cowherds and their cattle against the heavy rains sent down by Indra (Viṣṇupurāṇa V. 11. 15–25). It is stated in the Varāhapurāna (164 1) that Govardhana is about two yojanas from Mathurā to its west. This appears to be tolerably correct as at present it is 18 miles from Vrndāvana. The Kūrma (I. 14 18) says that the very ancient king Prthu performed austerities here. The details given in the Hari-vamśa and the purāṇas are sometimes confused and misleading. For example, in the Harivamśa (Visnuparva 13. 3) it is stated that Tālavana is to the north of Govardhana on the Yamunā, while it is south-east of Govardhana Kālīdāsa refers to the caverns of Govardhana (Raghuvamśa 6. 51). Gokula is the same as Vraja or Mahāvana, where Krsna was brought up in his early childhood by Nand-gopa who removed his habitation from Gokula to Vṛndāvana out of fear of what Kaṁsa might do. The great Vaiṣṇavite saint Caitanya visited Vṛndāvana (Caitanya-caritāmṛta canto 19 and 9th Act of the drama Caitanyacandrodaya, both by Kavikarṇapūra or Paramānandadāsa). In the 16th century Vṛndāvana became a centre of Caitanya's bhakti movement owing to the strenuous efforts and learned writings of the Gosvāmins of Vṛndāvana, particularly Sanātana, Rūpa and Jīva. Vide Prof. S. K. De's 'Vaiṣṇava faith and movement in Bengal' (1942) pp. 83-122. Vallabhācārya, who was a contemporary of Caitanya founded new Gokula, one mile to the south of Mahāvana in imitation of the ancient Gokula. Caitanya and Vallabhācārya met at Vṛndāvana (vide Manilal C. Parekh's work on Vallabhācārya p.161). The old temples of Mathurā met the same fate at the orders of Aurangzeb as the temples of Banaraṣ³⁶

The Sabhāparva (319. 23-25) narrates that Jarāsaṁdha threw his mace from Girivraja (Rājgir in Bihar, the ancient capital of Magadha) and it fell in Mathurā at the distance of 99 yojanas before Kṛṣṇa and the place where it fell was thence called Gadāvāsana. I have not come across this name anywhere else.

Growse describes in chap. IX pp. 222 ff. the temples of Vṛndāvana and in chap. XI Govardhana, Barsān, the birthplace of Rādhā, and Nandgaoṇ Vide also 'Picturesque India' by W. S Caine pp. 253 ff, for Mathurā and neighbouring holy placeṣ

PURUṢOTTAMATĪRTHA (JAGANNĀTHA)

Much has been written about Puruṣottamātīrtha or Jagan-nātha, both in Sanskrit and in English. The following works in English may be consulted by those who desire to make a thorough study of the sacred place; W. W. Hunter's 'Orissa' vol. I pp. 81-167, Rajendralal Mitra's 'Antiquities of Orissa' vol. II pp. 99-144, R. D Banerji's 'History of Orissa' (in two volumes, 1930), Gazetteer on Puri, vol. XX pp. 409-412.

There are four most important tīrthas in Orissa, viz. Bhuvanesvara (or Cakratirtha), Jagannātha (or Śankha-ksetra), Konārka (or Padma-ksetra), Yajpura or Jajpur (Gadāksetra). The first two are still held in high esteem, while the last two are altogether neglecteḍ

Among the purāṇas, Purusottama-tīrtha is extensively dealt with in the Brahma (chap. 41-70, about 1600 verses), in the Brhannāradīya (uttarārdha chap. 52-61, 825 verses). Among digests, the tīrtha-cintāmani of Vācaspati that devotes nearly one-third of the work to Purusottama-tīrtha (pp. 53- 175) and that quotes about 800 verses from the Brahmapurāna on Purusottama, Raghunandana's Purusottama-tattva (which is brief and mostly based on the Brahmapurāna) and the Tirthaprakāśa (pp. 561-594) may be mentioneḍ It is worthy of note that the Kalpataru (composed about 1110-1120 A. D.) does not describe Purusottama-tīrtha in its Tirthakānda, though it speaks of a few little known tīrthas like Lohārgala, Stutāsvāmin and Kokāmukha.

Raghunandana in his Purusottama-tattva quotes a verse³⁷ (which as printed is corrupt) from the Ṛgveda that from the context appears to be addressed to some evil spirit (alaksmī) and means 'O evil spirit with a wicked looking chin (or that art difficult to be killed)! Have recourse to that far-off wood in the sea, that has no connection with human beings and go to distant lands with it'. Then he states that the Atharva- veda has a similar verse. Probably following Sāyana's inter- pretation, Raghunandana connects this Ṛgveda verse with Puruṣottama, the image of which is made of wooḍ

It would be proper to set out as briefly as possible the story of Jagannātha contained in the Brahmapurāṇa. In Bharatavarṣa there is a country called Oḍra situated on the shores of the southern ocean, which extends northwards from the sea up to Virajā-maṇḍala ³⁸ (chap. 28, 1–2). In that country there is a holy place, destroyer of sins and bestower of mukti, surrounded on all sides by sand and ten yojanas in extent (chap. 42. 13–14). There is the famous shrine of Puruṣo- ttama in the country of Utkala the whole of which is very holy owing to the favour of the all-pervading Jagannātha (chap. 42. 35–37). Men who reside in Utkala are blessed like gods since Puruṣottama resides there. Chapters 43 and 44 narrate the story of Indradyumna who ruled at Avanti (Ujjayini) in Mālava (modern Mālvā). He was a very pious, learned and good king who after reading all Vedas, śāstras, epics, purāṇas and Dharmaśāstras came to the conclusion that Vāsudeva was the highest Deity, started from his capital Ujjayini with a vast army, servants, priests and artisans and came to the shores of the southern sea, saw the kṣetra of Vāsudeva, ten yojanas in breadth and five yojanas in length and encamped there. Formerly there was a Vaṭa tree on the shores of the southern sea near which there was an image of Puruṣottama or ³⁹ Jagan- nātha made of sapphire, which became embedded in sand and was concealed by creepers and plantṣ King Indradyumna per- formed Aśvamedha there, erected a great temple (prasāda) and was anxious to establish a suitable image of Vāsudeva in the temple. In a dream the king saw Vāsudeva who told him to go alone to the shore in the morning and cut the Vaṭa tree grow- ing just on the water line with an axe. The king did so in the morning and then two brāhmaṇas (who were really Viṣṇu and Viśvakarmā) appeareḍ Viṣṇu told the king that his associate (Viśvakarmā) will manufacture the image. Three images of Kṛṣṇa, Balarāma and Subhadrā were made and given to the king and Viṣṇu further conferred the boon that the pool called Indradyumna (where the king bathed at the end of his Aśvamedha) will be known by the king's name, that whoever took a bath once in it would go to Indraloka, and that whoever offered pindas on the bank of the pool would save 21 ancestors of his family. Then the king established the three images in the temple built by hiṃ⁴⁰ The Skandapurāṇa contains a Purusottamamahātmya in a sub-section called Utkala-khanda in its section Vaiṣṇava-khaṇḍa, where the story of Indradyumna is given with some variationṣ

Stripping this story of the supernatural, it appears probable that the holy place Purusottama was called Nīlācala in very ancient times, that Kṛṣṇa worship was introduced from Northern India at that place, and that three images of wood were established in comparatively early timeṣ It may be stated here that in the Maitrāyaṇī Upaniṣad⁴¹ an Indradyumna is named among a host of cakravartinṣ The Kūrmapurāṇa (II. 35. 27) makes a brief and colourless reference to Purusottama (tīrtham Nārāyaṇasvānyat-nāmnā tu Puruṣottamam). Rajendralal Mitra ('Antiquities of Orissa') surmises that there were three periods in the history of the Purusottama-kṣetra, viz. early Hindu period, the Buddhist period and the Vaiṣṇava period (after the 5th century A. D. when Buddhism began to wane). He notices that from about the 7th century A. D. considerable temple records on palm leaves exist, but that the temple records for the Buddhist period are untrustworthy (p. 104) and that there are indications that Puri was probably a place of Buddhist sanctuary (p. 107). The indications of the existence of Buddhism in Orissa are the existence of Aśoka's rock edicts on the Dhauli Hill (C. I. I. vol. I pp. 84-100), the existence of many caves of the Buddhist period on the Khandagiri range about five miles to the west of Bhuvanesvara, the procession of the car of Jagannātha which resembles the procession of Buddha's Tooth relic as described by Fa Hien (Hunter's Orissa, vol. I, p. 131–132) and the three crude wooden images of Kṛṣṇa, Subhadrā and Balarāma which are hardly found anywhere else and which correspond to the three peculiarities of Buddhism viz. Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. Vide Mitra's ‘Antiquities of Orissa,' vol. II. pp. 122–126 (where he gives wood-cuts showing the figures of the images and comparing them with Buddhist symbols and Cunningham's ‘Ancient Goegraphy of India' pp. 510–511 (the remarks in which appear to me far-fetched). In J. R. A. S. vol. 18 at p. 402 (new series) Sewell thinks that the celebrated image of Jagannātha was originally one of the Triśūlas or developed Taurus symbolṣ

At present the sacred enclosure of Jagannātha is a square surrounded by a massive stone wall 20 feet high, 652 feet long and 630 feet broad with 120 temples containing various forms of God, 13 being temples of Śiva, some more of Pārvatī and a temple of the Suṇ This clearly shows the catholi- city of Jagannātha. Almost every form of Hindu faith is represented here. Even the Brahmapurāṇa gives expression to this tolerant view when it says that the holy Puruṣottama- kṣetra forbids all the wranglings between Śaivas and the devotees of Viṣṇu.⁴¹ The great Pagoda of Jagannātha has four chambers, the first being the Hall of Offerings (bhoga- mandira), the 2nd the pillared hall for music and dance (the naṭa mandira), the third the audience hall where pilgrims, assemble (the Jaganmohana mandira) and the 4th the inner sanctuary. The great Pagoda of Jagannātha has a conical tower 192 feet high surmounted by a calra ¹⁵⁷⁷ and a flag. temple is situated at the distance of about seven furlongs from the sea shore and stands on a mound about 20 feet above the level of the surrounding ground, the mound being dignified by being called Nīlagiri (the blue hill). There is a large gate-way on each side of the enclosure, that on the east being the most magnificent On each side of the entrance there is a colossal crouching lion and hence the door-way is called simha-dvāra (lion gate).

There are certain peculiar features of the great shrine of Jagannātha. In the first place, in the court of Jagannātha and outside the Lion Gate no distinction of caste ⁴⁴ is observeḍ Jagannātha is the god of all people. The second special feature is that the holy rice cooked as offering to Jagannātha is regarded as so sanctified that all barriers of caste are transcended, so much so that a Puri priest will receive the holy food even from a low caste Hindu. The feeling is that cooked rice when once placed before Jagannātha never ceases to be pure. Hence the Mahāprasāda is dried, is taken to all parts of India and at the periodical śrāddhas among Vaiṣṇavas a grain of this holy rice is invariably put on the cake as the most sacred article that can be offered to the Manes (vide Mitra's ‘Antiquities of Orissa’, vol. II p 199). The third special feature of Jagannātha is the car festival (rathayātrā) which is the most important of the 24 high ⁴⁵ festivals at Puri. The festival is described at length by Hunter in his ‘Orissa’, vol. I pp. 131–134. The car festival starts on the 2nd day of the bright half of Āṣāḍha. The car of Jagannātha is about 45 feet in height, 35 feet square and is supported on 16 wheels of 7 feet diameter with 16 spokes and has Garuda as a crest; the 2nd car is that of Subhadrā, which is a little smaller than Jagannātha's car, resting on 12 wheels with 12 spokes in each and having a padma (lotus) as a crest, the 3rd car is that of Balarāma resting on 14 wheels with 14 spokes in each wheel and has Hanūmān for crest. The cars are drawn by pilgrims and hired labourers from the temple to the country-house of Jagannātha (which is about two miles away) amidst the shouts and emotional songs of thousands of pilgrimṣ Owing to the references in English literature to the car of Jagannātha it is supposed by many that pilgrims used to throw themselves before the car in a religious frenzy and were killeḍ But there is hardly any truth in these suppositionṣ There might have been a few accidental deathṣ Hunter in ‘Orissa’ (vol. I pp. 133-34) scouts this idea of suicide under the car and Rajendralal observes (in ‘Antiquities of Orissa’, vol. II p 99) ‘No Indian divinity has a more unenviable notoriety in English Literature than Jagannātha. It is certain, neverthe- less, that human conception has never realized a more innocent and gentle divinity than Jagannātha and the tenets of his votaries are the very reverse of sanguinary or revolting. Never was opprobrium more unjustly cast on an inoffensive object than in this instance and none merited it less’. On the 10th day of the bright half begins the return of the car from the country house. According to Rajendralal Mitra the oldest temple in Puri is that of Alābukeśvara built by Lalātendu Kesari (623-677 A. D.), the builder of the tower of Bhuvaneśvara; the next oldest is Mārkaṇḍeśvara and next comes the great temple of Jagannātha (vol. II. p. 112). Manmohan Chakravarti in his paper on the ‘date of Jagannātha temple in Puri’ (J. A. S. B., vol. 57 for 1893, part 1 pp. 328–331) quotes two verses from the Gangavaṁsa copper plates of Orissa which state that Ganga- śvara alias Coḍagaṅga built the great temple of Puruṣottama⁴⁶. As Coḍagaṅga’s coronation took place in śake 999 (i e. 1078 A. D.) according to M. M. Chakravarti, he put forward the view that the prāsāda of Jagannātha was built about 1085-1090 A. D. Dr. D. C. Sirkar (in ‘God Puruṣottama at Puri’ J. O. R., Madras vol. 17 pp. 209–215) points out that the celebrated Oriya Chronicle Mādalā-pāñjī attributes the construction of Puruṣottama Jagannātha not to Coḍagaṅga but to his great- grandson Ananga-bhima III, who also installed an image of Puruṣottama in a temple at Vārāṇasī-Kaṭaka (modern Cuttack) which was desecrated by Sultan Firuz Shah (vide Elliot and Dowson's 'History of India', vol III. pp 312–315). These Ganga kings built magnificent temples at Bhuvanéśvara (ancient Ekamra), Koṇārka and Puri, which are the finest surviving specimens of North Indian Hindu Architecture. Mitra ('Antiquities of Orissa' vol. II, pp. 109–110) and Hunter ('Orissa' vol. I pp. 100–102) note that Ananga-bhīma wanted to eclipse the grand tower of Bhuvanéśvara and renovated the temple of Jagannātha in śake 1119 (i. e. 1198 A. D ). ⁴⁷

The temple of Jagannātha has an army of attendants They are divided into 36 orders and 97 classeṣ At the head was the Raja of Khurdha who called himself the 'sweeper of Jagannātha' (vide Hunter's 'Orissa', vol I p 128).

As in Banaras, so here also there are five important tīrthas, ⁴⁸ viz. the pool of Mārkaṇḍeya, the Vata tree (identi- fied with Kṛṣṇa), Balarāma, the sea and Indradyumna pool A few words may be said here about each. The story of Mārkaṇḍeya is narrated in Brahmapurāṇa, chapters 52–56 and in Nṛsiṁha-purāṇa 10.21 ff (briefly). In chap. 56. 72–73 Viṣṇu asks Mārkaṇḍeya to build a temple of Śiva to the north of Jagannātha and to construct a sacred pool which thence- forward was to become known as ‘Mārkaṇḍeya’s pool’. The Brahmapurāṇa provides that the pilgrim should bathe in Mārkaṇḍeya’s pool, dip his head thrice, utter a mantra (chap. 57. 3–4), then he should perform tarpana, go to the temple of Śiva (called Mārkaṇḍeyeśvara) and worship him with the Mūlamantra ⁴⁹ viz. ‘Om namaḥ Śivāya’, then with another mantra called Aghora and a Paurāṇic mantra. The pilgrim should, after a bath in Mārkaṇḍeya’s pool and visit to the temple of Śiva, repair to the sacred Vata, circum-ambulate it thrice, worship it with the mantra ⁵⁰ noted below. It may be noted that the Brahmapurāṇa 157 17 expressly states that the Vata is Viṣṇu Himself in that form (nyagrodhākr̥tikaṁ Viṣṇuṁ praṇipatya). The Vata is also styled Kalpavṛkṣa (Brahma 57. 12, 60. 18). The pilgrim should bow to Garuḍa standing in front of Kṛṣṇa and then worship Kṛṣṇa, Saṁkarṣaṇa and Subhadrā with mantraṣ The mantras for Saṁkarṣaṇa are verses 22-23 of Brahmapurāṇa chap. 57 and that for Subhadrā is chap. 57. 58 ⁵¹. The mantra to be used in the worship of Kṛṣṇa is either of 12 syllables (oṁ namo bhagavate Vāsudevāya) or of eight syllables (oṁ namo Nārāyaṇāya). Brahmapurāṇa chap. 57 verses 42-51 specify the various rewards of seeing Kṛṣṇa with devotion and wind up by promising mokṣa ⁵² A bath in the sea at Purī is always commendable, but particularly on the Full Moon day (Brahma 60. 10). Brahma chap. 62 deals at length with the bath in the sea (the whole of it except one verse being quoted by Tīr. C. pp. 126-128). The Indra- dyumna pool has been mentioned above (pp. 694-95). The pilgrim has to bathe in the Indradyumna pool, perform tarpaṇa for gods, sages and pitṛs and offer piṇḍas to his ancestors (chap 63. 2-5).

In the Govindapur stone Inscription of the poet Gaṅgādhara (E. I. vol. II. p. 330) of śake 1059 ¹ e. (1137-38 A. D.) there is a clear reference to Puruṣottama ⁵³

The Brahmapurāṇa chap 66 speaks of the Guṇḍicāyātrā for seven days on the bank of the Indradyumna pool in a maṇḍapa where reside (temporarily) Kṛṣṇa, Saṁkarṣaṇa and Subhadrā. The Tīr. C. which quotes the whole of that chapter (pp. 157-159), calls it Guṇḍikā, while in the drama Caitanya- candroddaya ¹⁵⁸⁷ it is styled Gundicā at the very beginning. It appears that Gundicā is the summer house of Jagannātha about two miles from the great Temple. The word is probably derived from gundī, which means a thick log of wood in Bengali and Uriya ( vide Mitra’s ‘Antiquities of Orissa’, vol. II, pp. 138– 39 ) and has reference to the legend of a log of wood that Indradyumna found floating in the sea.

It may be noted that religious suicide at Purusottama is referred to in Brahmapurāṇa. ¹⁵⁸⁸ ‘those who give up their body (life) in Purusottama-ksetra after mounting up the Vata tree or do so between the Vata and the ocean reach without doubt mokṣa. A man abandoning life, either intentionally or unintentionally, either on his way to Purusottama or in the cemetery or in the country house (of Jagannātha ) or in the streets (of Jagannātha ) or even anywhere else there secures mokṣa. Therefore men desiring mokṣa should by all means give up life at that holy place’.

The Brahmapurāṇa winds up by saying ‘it is thrice ¹⁵⁸⁹ true that that ksetra (Purusottama) is the greatest and highest tīrtha. A person has not to lie again in the womb after once visiting Puruṣottama which is laved by the waters of the sea or by once attaining the knowledge of brahma.

The great Vaiṣṇava saint, Caitanya, settled permanently at Purī in 1515 A. D. at the age of thirty and spent eighteen years there till 1533 (when he died). He appears to have made a great impression on the Gajapati king Pratāparudra- deva, ruler of Orissa (1497-1540 A. D.). In the drama Caitanya- candrodaya of Kavikarṇapūra the king is shown to be so anxious for meeting the saint that he declares that he would die if the gracious glance of the saint did not fall on hiṃ⁵⁷ This should be attributed to the inveterate habit of gross exaggeration rampant in most Sanskrit writers, particularly amongst devotees and followers of great saintṣ Caitanya came to be worshipped along with Viṣṇu as a deity in Purī and Orissa (vide Hunter's 'Orissa' vol. I, p. 109). Kavikarṇapūra in his drama (8th Act) makes Sārvabhauma say that there is no distinction between God Jagannātha and Caitanya, the only difference being that Jagannātha is 'dārubrahma' (Godhead manifested in a wooden image) and Caitanya is 'narabrahma' (Godhead in human form).⁵⁸ The Caitanyacaritāmṛta (a poem) of Kavikarṇapūra in cantos 14-18 deals with the devotional and ecstatic life of Caitanya at Purī and presents a vivid picture of Ratha and other festivals of Jagannātha in which Caitanya took a prominent part. I agree with Dr. S. K. De that there is no satisfactory evidence to show that Pratāparudra was actually converted into the new faith ('Vaiṣṇava faith and movement in Bengal' p. 67).

One regrettable feature of the great temple of Jagannātha is the existence of some obscene and lascivious sculptures that disfigure the walls of the temple and the presence of dancing girls with rolling eyes, to which pointed reference is made by all writers, particularly European ones (vide, for example, Indian Antiquary vol. I, p. 322, Hunter's 'Orissa', vol. I pp. 111, 135). The presence of dancing girls is a legacy from the Brahmapurāṇa (chap. 65) in describing the special snāna (bath) festival of Jagannātha on the full moon day of Jyestha mentions, along with the beating of drums and the music of the flute and the lute and the chanting of holy Vedic mantras, handsome veśyas as chowrie-bearers in front of the images of Balarāma and Kṛṣṇa.⁵⁹

NARMADĀ

Next to the Ganges the most sacred rivers of India are the Narmadā and the Godāvarī. A few words about each of these may be said here.

An express reference to the Narmadā has not so far been traced in the Vedic Literature. The Śatapatha Br. (XII 9. 3. 1) refers to one Revottaras who was a Pātava Cākra and sthapati (a chief) and whom the Sṛñjayas expelled (SBE vol. 44 p. 269)⁶⁰. Revā is another name for Narmadā ⁶¹ and it is possible to say that Revottaras was named after Revā. A vārtika on Pāṇ. IV. 2. 87 derives the word Mahismat (as the name of a country) from 'Mahisa'. This is generally identified with Māhiṣmatī (on the Narmadā). So the name Narmadā was probably known to the author of the Vārtikas (about the middle of the 4th century B. C.) The Raghuvamśa VI. 43 speaks of Māhiṣmatī as the capital of Anūpa on the bank of the Revā (i. e. Narmadā).

The Narmadā is frequently mentioned in the Mahābhārata and some of the Purāṇaṣ The Matsya (chapters 186-194, 554 verses), Kūrma (Uttarārdha, chapters 40-42 verses 189), Padma Ādikhaṇḍa (chap 13-23, 739 verses, most of which are the same as in the Matsya) deal with greatness of Narmadā and the tīrthas thereon⁶². The Matsya (194. 45) and Padma (Ādi khaṇḍa 21. 44) state that from the place where the Narmadā falls into the sea up to the Amara-kaṇṭaka mountain (where it rises) there are ten crores of sacred places, while the Agni purāṇa (113. 2) and Kūrma II. 40. 13 raise the number to 60 crores and 60 thousanḍ The Nāradīya (uttarārdha chap 77) says (verse 1) that there are 400 principal tīrthas on both banks of the Narmada, but from Amara-kantaka three crores and a half (verses 4 and 27-28).⁶³ The Vanaparva (in chap 188 103 and chap. 222.24) mentions the Narmadā along with the Godā- varī and other rivers of the south. In the sama parva (chap. 89. 1-3) it is stated that the holy Narmadā is in the Anarta country⁶⁴, that it is endowed with priyangu creepers and mango groves, that it has strings of Vānira fruit, that it flows to the west and that all the holy places in the three worlds come for a bath to the Narmadā. The Matsya and Padma declare⁶⁵ that the Ganges is holy in Kanakhala, the Saras- vatī in Kurukṣetra, but the Narmadā is holy everywhere whether in a village or in a forest and that the Narmadā purifies the sinner by its very sight while the waters of the Sarasvatī do so by three baths (on three days), of the Yamunā (by baths) in seven days and of the Ganges by a single bath. The Viṣṇu dharmasūtra (85.8) in enumerating a list of tīrthas that are eminently fit for śrāddha includes the banks of the Narmada throughout the whole length among theṃ The Narmadā is said⁶⁶ to have started from the body of Rudra which is a poe- tic way of saying that it rises from Amarakantaka that is said to be the abode of God Maheśvara and his spouse (Matsya 188 91). The Vāyupurāṇa declares that the holy Narmadā, the best of rivers, is the daughter of the pitṛs and the śrāddhas offered on it become inexhaustible⁶⁷. The Matsya and Kūrma both say that the river Narmadā has a course of complete 100 yojanas and its breadth is two yojanas⁶⁸. Prof. K. V. Rangaswami Aiyangar seizes upon the length of 100 yojanas and says (on p. 199 note 4 of his edition of Kalpataru on Tīrtha in G. O. S.) that the Matsya is very accurate, since the length of the Narmadā is now found to be about 800 mileṣ But he forgets that the breadth is said to be two yojanas (i. e. 16 miles on the scale for a yojana adopted by him). It is not shown how and where (except at the mouth if at all) the Narmadā is 16 miles in breadth in its long course. Both Matsya and Kūrma state that the Narmadā is (rises) from Amarakantaka which is to the western side of the country of Kalinga.⁶⁹

The Viṣṇupurāṇa provides that if a man repeats day and night and whenever he has to go inside a dark place the mantra ‘Salutation to Narmadā in the morning! salutation to Narmadā at night! O Narmadā! salutation to you; save me from poisonous serpents’ ⁷⁰ he has no danger from serpentṣ

It is stated in the Kūrma and the Matsya that a man who commits suicide by entering fire or water or by fasting (on some of the tīrthas on the Narmadā or on Amarakantaka) does not return (to this saṁsāra).⁷¹

The Narmadā is mentioned as Namados by Ptolemy (p. 102). One of the earliest inscriptional references to it occurs in the Eran stone pillar inscription of Budhagupta in 165 of Gupta era i. e. 484-85 A. D. Vide C. I. I. vol. III. at p. 89.

Several rivers are mentioned as falling into the Narmadā such as Kapilā (on the south bank, Matsya 186. 40, Padma I, 13. 35), Viśalyā (Matsya 186. 46 = Padma II. 13. 35-39), Eraṇḍī (Matsya 191. 42-43, Padma I, 18. 44), Ikṣu-nādī (Matsya 191. 49, Padma I. 18. 47), Kāverī (Matsya 189. 12-13,⁷² Padma I. 16. 6). Many sub-tīrthas are enumerated, out of which two or three may be mentioned here. One is Maheśvara-tīrtha (i. e. Oṁkāra) from where Rudra is said to have burnt down with an arrow the three cities of Bāṇāsura (Matsya 188. 2 ft, Padma I 15 2 ff), Śukla-tīrtha (highly praised in Matsya 192. 3 ff about which it is said that the rājarsi Cāṇakya ⁷³ attained perfection there), Bhrgutīrtha (at the very ⁷⁴ sight of which a man becomes free from sin, a bath in which leads to heaven and death at which ensures non-return to saṁsāra ), the Jāmadagnya-tīrtha (where the Narmadā ⁷⁵ falls into the sea and where Lord Janārdana secured perfection ). The mountain Amarakantaka is a tīrtha that dispels all sins including brāhmaṇa-murder and it is one yojana all round in extent ( Matsya 189. 89, 98 ). The most important place on the Narmadā is, however, Māhismatī, about the exact location of which scholars have differeḍ The general consensus of opinion is that Māhismatī is to be identified with Oṁkāra Mandhātā, an island in the Narmadā about 40 miles south of Indore. It has a long history. Moggaliputta Tissa is said in Buddhist works to have sent missionaries to several countries in the reign of Aśoka ( about 247 B C. ), one of which was sent to Māhisamaṇḍala. Dr. Fleet in his paper ‘ Māhisamaṇḍala and Māhismatī ' (in J. R. A. S. for 1910 pp. 425-447) Māhismatī, Māhismatī was well-known to the Mahābhāsya, ⁷⁶ from a passage in which it follows that by a forced march person starting from Ujjayinī could reach Māhismatī the next morning. Kālidāsa describes it as surrounded by Revā (Raghuvaṁśa VI 43). Māhismatī is mentioned as being on IV] the Narmadā or Revā in Udyogaparva 19. 23-24, 166. 4, Anuśāsana 166. 4, Bhāgavata X. 79. 21, Padma II. 92. 32.

Another ancient city is Bharukaccha or Bhrgukaccha (modern Broach) for which the entry in the list may be consulteḍ

GODĀVARĪ

No mention of Godāvarī has so far been found in the Vedic Literature. In Buddhist works there are traditions about Bāvarī, who was a purohita of Mahākosala and then of Pasenadi, who resided in Assaka's territory in the vicinity of Alaka on the Godāvarī and who is said to have sent several disciples to Buddha at Śrāvastī (vide Suttanipāta, S. B. E. vol. X part 2 pp. 184 and 187). The Vārtika ‘Saṅkhyāyā nadi-godāvari- bhyām ca’ on Pāṇ. V. 475, expressly mentions Godāvarī and has in view ‘Saptagodāvara’. The two Epics and Purāṇas contain numerous references to it. The Vanaparva⁷⁷ mentions it as a holy river in the south, abounding in gardens and full of water and resorted to by hermits performing austeritieṣ The Araṇyakanda of the Rāmāyaṇa (13.13 and 21) speaks of the country well-known as ‘Pañcavāṭī’ frequented by herds of deer which is near the Godāvarī and about two yojanas from Agas- tya's hermitage. It is in the Brahmapurāṇa that the Godāvarī and the subsidiary tīrthas on it have been lauded at great length in chapters 70-175. The Tīrthasāra (a part of Nṛsiṁha- prasāda) quotes about 60 verses from chapters 89, 91, 106, 107, 116-118, 121, 122, 128, 131, 144, 154, 159, 172 of the Brahma- purāṇa, which fact shows that the chapters on Gautamī in the present Brahmapurāṇa were part of the Brahmapurāṇa at least some centuries before 1500 A. D. Vide my paper in J.B.B.R.A.S for 1917 p 27-28. The Brahmapurāṇa generally refers to the Godāvarī as Gautamī.⁷⁸ It is stated by the Brahmapurāṇa that the Ganges to the south of the Vindhya mountain is called Gautamī and to its north Bhāgirathī. The Godāvarī is said to be 200 yojanas long and there are three crores and a half of tīrthas on it.⁷⁹ Daṇḍakāraṇya is said to be the seed (source or cause) of dharma and mukti and the country embraced by the Gautami is specially the holiest.⁸⁰ A verse occurring in several purāṇas states 'These countries (of Madhyadeśa) are immediately next to the mountain Sahya: thereon is Godavari There is Govardhana there which is (like) Mandara and Gandhamādana'.⁸¹ Brahmapurāṇa (chapters 74-76) narrates how Gautama brought the Ganges from the matted hair of Śiva to Brahmagiri where he had his hermitage and how Gaṇeśa helped in the task by means of a ruse. The Nāradapurāṇa (uttarārdha 72) narrates that no rain fell for 12 years while Gautama practised tapas, that owing to famine all sages came to Gautama's hermitage, that he brought Gaṅgā to his hermitage, that he sowed śāli grains in the morning and reaped the crop by midday, that this went on till there was plenty of rain and crops, that Śiva appeared to him, that Gautama prayed that Śiva should stay near his hermitage and that hence the hill on which Gautama had his hermitage came to be called Tryambaka (verse 24). Varāha (71. 37-44) also says that Gautama brought Jāhnavī to Daṇḍaka and the river became Godāvarī. The Kūrma (II. 20. 29-35) mentions a long list of rivers and other sacred places and winds up by saying that the Godāvarī is pre-eminently a place for performing śrāddha. It is stated in the Brahmapurāṇa that for the removal of all kinds of distress two alone are declared (as the means) viz. the holy river Gautamī or Śiva who is full of compassioṇ⁸² The Brahmapurāṇa describes about a hundred tīrthas on the Godāvarī, such as Tryambaka (79. 6), Kuśāvarta (80, 1-3), Janasthāna (88.1), Govardhana (chap. 91), Pravarāsaṅgama (106) and Nivāsapura⁸³ (106, 55), Vañjarāsangama (159) but they have to be passed over from considerations of space. A few words must, however, be said about Nasik, Govardhana, Pañcavaṭi and Janasthāna. Nasik must have existed at least 200 years before Christ. An Inscription on one pillar of the railing at Bharhut stūpa (about 200 B. C.) records the gift of Gorakṣitā of Nasik, the wife of Vasuka,⁸⁴ This is the earliest certain historical reference to Nasik discovered so far. The Mahābhāṣya⁸⁵ speaks of Nāsikya as a city. The Vāyu-purāṇa (45,130) mentions Nāsikya as a country. The Nasik Inscriptions in the Paṇḍuleṇā caves (Bombay Gazetteer vol. 16 pp. 544-639 and E. I. vol. VIII pp. 59-96 edited by Senart) establish that Nasik was a prosperous place in the centuries before and after Christ. Ptolemy (about 150 A. D.) mentions Nasika (Ptolemy p. 156). It is not possible for rea-sons of space to go into the detailed history of Nasik, its bath-ing places and pools, its temples, pilgrimages and rites of worship. For these one may consult the Bombay Gazetteer, vol. 16 (for Nasik District). That volume states that there are about 60 temples in Nasik (pp. 503-512) and 16 in Pañcavaṭi and one on the left bank of the Godāvari (pp. 512 ff.). But hardly any really old temple has surviveḍ In 1680 A. D. twenty-five temples at Nasik were destroyed by the Deccan Viceroy of Aurangzeb. Almost all the large temples that adorn Nasik were built during the times of the Peshwas of Poona (1750–1818). Three temples are specially worthy of mention, viz. the the Ramji temple in Pañcavaṭi and Nāro Shankar’s temple (or Bell temple) on the left bank of the Godāvari near the first crossing and that of Sundara-nārāyaṇa in Āditwar Peth at Nasik (p. 503). The Sītā-gumphā (Sītā cave) in Pañcavaṭi close to some very old and tall Banyan trees that are believed to have sprung from the five trees that gave place is a much frequented place. Not far from the Sitā-gumphā is the temple of kāla Rāma, one of the finest modern temples in Western India. There are numerous bathing places and sacred pools (kuṇḍas) between Govardhana (6 miles to the west of Nasik) and Tapovana (1½ miles to south-east of Nasik). Vide Bombay Gazetteer vol. 16 pp. 522-526 The holiest spot in Nasik is the Rāmakunda near the left bank of the Godāvarī where it takes its first bend to the south For the Kālarāma daily services and the rites pilgrims have to perform at Nasik, vide Bombay Gazetteer vol 16 pp 517-518 and 529-531 respectively. Rāmanavamī is one of the great religious festivals at Nasik.

Govardhana town occurs several times in the long and famous Nasik Inscription of Usavadāta (No. 10 in Bombay Gazetteer vol. 16 p. 569-70).¹⁶¹⁸ As regards Pañcavati the place still goes by the same name. It is to be noted that in the Rāmāyaṇa III. 13. 13 Pañcavatī is styled a deśa (country). Janasthāna was in Daṇḍakāranya according to the Śalyaparva III, 21, 19-20, Nāradiya-purāṇa II 75. 30 and Agni 7. 2-3¹⁶¹⁹ and Pañcavatī was part of Janasthāna. Janasthāna is said to be four yojanas in extent, and it is further stated that it was so called because kings of the Janaka line secured much there through the favour of the Godāvarī.¹⁶²⁰

A bath in the Godāvarī when Jupiter enters the sign of Leo has been regarded even up to the present day as very IV] meritoriouṣ¹ The Brahmapurāṇa says that three crores and a half of tīrthas that exist in the three worlds come for a bath in the Gaṅgā when Jupiter is in Leo and that bathing in the Bhāgirathi (every day) for sixty thousand years (is equal) to bathing only once in the Godāvarī when Jupiter is in the Zodical sign Leo.² It is stated in the Varāhapurāṇa that when a man repairs to the sacred Godāvarī in simhastha year, takes a bath and offers tarpaṇa (and śrāddha) to his pitṛs the latter go to heaven if they are in hell and they attain final release if they are already denizens of heaveṇ Jupiter is in Leo for one year once in twelve yearṣ Crowds of pilgrims throng at Nasik in their thousands from all parts of India in the simhastha year.

KAÑCĪ (modern Conjeeveram).

Kāñcī is one of the seven holy cities of India (vide p. 678 ṇ 1535 above) and one of the most ancient towns in southern India If we rely on the tradition recorded by Hiouen Thsang who stayed in Kāñcī about 640 A. D. it would follow that Buddha frequented the region around Kāñcipura and that Kāñcī had a stūpa about 100 feet high built by Aśokarāja (Beal's B. R. W. W. vol. II. p. 230). Hiouen Thsang informs us that Kāñcī was 30 li (or about 5½ miles) in circuit, that in his day there were eighty Deva temples and that there were many heretics called Nirgranthas (Beal's B. R. W. W. vol. II pp. 228-229). The next important datum is the mention of Kāñcīpuraka (resident of Kāñcīpura) in the Mahābhāṣya on Vārtika 26 to Pāṇ. IV. 2 104 (Kielhorn, vol II p. 298). Several early records relating to the ancient history of the Pallavas of Kāñcī (of about 250 to 350 A. D.) have been published, such as the Mayidavolu plates of Yuvamahārāja Śiva-skandavarman (E. I. vol. VI p. 84), the Hirahadagalli Inscription of the 8th year (E. I vol. 1. p. 2), and the Talgunda Pillar Inscription of Kadamba Kakusthavarman (E. I vol. VIII p. 24). The Allahabad Praśasti of Samudragupta (Gupta Inscriptions eḍ by Fleet p. 7) states that Samudragupta vanquished Viṣṇugopa king of Kāñcī (Kāñceyakā), in the first half of the 4th century A. D. In the ‘Maṇimekhalai’ there is an elaborate description of the town of Kāñcī where Maṇimekhalai ultimately attained to enlightenment (vide S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar’s ‘Maṇimekhalai in its historical setting’ p. 20). It is not necessary for the present purpose to refer to the numerous inscriptions about the Pallavas and Kāñcī and the large number of papers contributed to learned Journalṣ Reference may, however, be made to the careful and scholarly work ‘History of the Pallavas of Kāñcī’ by R. Gopalan (1928), which brings together all relevant data published up to the date of its compositioṇ

Let us now turn to some passages from the Purāṇas about Kāñcī. The Brahmāṇḍa assertṣ³ ‘The two cities of Kāśī and Kāñcī are the two eyes of Lord Śiva; Kāñcī is a famous Vaiṣṇava kṣetra but it also brings-about the presence of Śiva’. It is stated in the Bāṛhaspatya-sūtra (III. 124) that Kāñcī is a Śakta-kṣetra and in the Devībhāgavata (VII. 38, 8) it is said to be a Devīsthāna called Annapūrṇā. The Vāmanapurāṇa ⁴ observes: the Jāti is the best among flowers, Kāñcī the best among towns, Rambhā among women, the householder among persons of (the four) āśramas, Kuśasthali is the best among cities and Madhyadeśa among all countrieṣ

Kāñcī is full of temples and shrineṣ The most famous are the Vaikuntha Perumal temple of Viṣṇu and the Śaiva temple of Kailāsanātha built by Pallava Rājasimha. This latter has a large hall supposed to contain 1000 columnṣ⁵ There is an old Jaina temple also.

PANDHARPUR

This is one of the most popular places of pilgrimage in the Bombay State. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims visit it every year. The Bombay Gazetteer vol. 20 (for Sholapur District) devotes pp. 415-482 to Pandharpur. This sacred place cannot claim very great antiquity. On the materials so far available it is difficult to decide when the shrine of Vithobā was established, but there is sufficient evidence to enable one to say that it was certainly in existence in the middle of the thirteenth century A. D.⁶ The Padmapurāṇa (Uttara-khanda 176. 56-58) mentions the image of Vitthala Viṣṇu on the bank of the Bhīmarathī which has only two arms and is called Bindu-mādhava. The difficulty is about the date of this part of the Padmapurāṇa. In my opinion it is a late addition and cannot be placed earlier than about 1000 A. D. The modern town of Pandharpur lies along the right bank of the Bhīmā river. The chief temple in Pandharpur is that of Vithobā in the centre of that part of the town which is considered holy. The Bombay Gazetteer vol. 20 describes at some length (pp. 417-424) the main temple of Vithobā and its adjoining partṣ Behind the temple of Vithobā is the temple of Rakhumāī, the consort of Vithobā. There is a large staff of priests and attendants in the temple of Vithobā, the chief of whom are those called Badves (who are the most numerous body of the staff and who once claimed to be owners of the temple, but who are now held to be the trustees and guardians of the temple property and of the god's jewels under a scheme of management framed by the High Court of Bombay).⁷ Except the Badves all other attendants are called sevādhāris and they are of various grades, viz. the pujāris (who take the principal part in the worship of the God), Benāris⁸ (who repeat mantras and hymns at different services), paricārakas (who bring in a large silver dish the water with which the pujāri washes the image of the God and brings the lamp for waving it before the image at the evening and night services), hardās (who sings generally five verses in honour of the God at the morning, evening and night services), the āngres (who hold a mirror before the God at the early morning service after the god has been dressed and before the lights are waved), the dvītes (the torch-bearers) who hold a lighted torch when the last night ceremonies are over and carry the slippers of the god in torch-light processions three times a year on the Full Moon days of Āśādha and Kārtika and on the Daśarā night), the danger (who stands with a silver or gold-plated mace outside the ante-chamber at the morning, evening and night services). The goddess Rakumai has only one set of priests known as Ulpāis, of whom there are over a hundred familieṣ

The Bombay Gazetteer describes at length (pp. 427-430) the ordinary and special services in the temple of Vithobā which are passed over here. Their essence is that the god is treated as if he were some high human person requiring bath, dress, songs, sleep against fatigue and so oṇ One thing, how-ever, may be noticed that no women singers or dancers are connected with this temple of Vithobā in contradistinction to many temples in the Deccan and South India.

The image of Vitthal or Vithobā in the temple is about three feet and nine inches high and together with its base seems to be cut out of 'one block of trap. Its rough appearance is probably due to the effect of time. The image is standing with its arms alambo and hands resting on the hips; the left hand holds a conch and the right a cakra (discus). On the image are carved but so slightly as to be hardly noticeable except on close examination a waist cloth and round the waist a waist-band the end of which hangs on the right thigh. The ornaments consist of a necklace and in the long ears are ear-rings which touch the shoulderṣ On the head is a long round-topped cap. Mr. Kantak, the writer of the note on Pandharpur in the Bombay Gazetteer vol. 20, remarks (p. 424): “The dress and ornament of the image belong to a (time) little later than the Guptas, probably not later than the 5th or 6th century after Christ. As far as is known no other existing Vaisnava temple in India has an image of Viṣṇu like the Pandharpur image, but there are two similar images of the third century after Christ in the Udayagiri brahmanical caves near Bhilsā.... Like the Pan-dharpur image these are both standing figures with arms akimbo and hands resting on the hips and a conch and discus in the hands”. Formerly pilgrims used to embrace the image and also touched the feet of the image. But since about 1873 the feet alone are allowed to be toucheḍ

The Bombay Gazetteer (vol. 20 p. 431, note 2) states that the image of Vithobā was removed to various places at diffe-rent times to save it from sacrilege by fanatic Moslem invaders and rulerṣ About 500 yards east of Vithobā's temple in the bed of the Bhimā river is the temple of Pundlik, one of the most favourite places of worship in Pandharpur. This last temple is not that of a goḍ It only marks the spot where Pundlik, a great devotee of Vitthal, spent his last days and dieḍ Pundlik was probably a brāhmaṇa from Pandharpur, originally an undutiful son who ill-treated his parents, but who later repented on seeing the dutiful cobbler Rohidās, changed his ways and became a very dutiful son, so much so that tradition says that god Vithobā came to visit hiṃ Vithobā and Pundlik have become so much coupled together that all pilgrims before beginning to dine and on other occasions shout the cry ‘Pundalika varade Hari Vitthal’.⁹ The Boṃ G. vol 20 (pp. 432–434) describes the temple of Pundlik and narrates the traditional story about him Pages 434-468 of Boṃ G. vol. 20 describe the several temples and shrines at Pandharpur such as those of Visnupada, Trimbakeśvara, Candrabhāgā, Janābai's cell, which are all passed over here. The river Bhīmā is styled Candrabhāgā within Pandharpur limits and its water is believed to possess sin-purifying power.

Several important and controversial questions arise in relation to Vithobā's temple at Pandharpur; viz. the date when the image of Vithobā was installed in the temple at Pandharpur, whether the present image is an old one or a substitute, what the ancient name of Pandharpur was, the derivation of the word 'Vitthal'. As regards the first question it may be stated that there is not enough evidence to establish with certainty the time when the image was established ¹⁰. But some of the items of evidence may be briefly set out here. In I A. vol. 14 pp. 68-75 Prof. K. B. Pathak published an inscription on a copper-plate found at Bendigere (about eleven miles south-east from Belgaum), the inscription being dated in śake 1171 (1249 A. D), in which Pandharpur is called Pauṇḍarīkakṣetra on the Bhīmā-rathī (at p. 74) and Vithobā is called Viṣṇu and which records the grant of a village in Veṇugrāma district (Belgaum) to a number of brāhmaṇas by a minister of Yādava king Kṛṣṇa (or in the inscription) in the presence of god Viṣṇu (p. 74) i. e. before the image of Viṣṇu or Vitthala. Dr. R. G Bhandarkar in 'Vaisnavism, Śaivism &c', (p. 88) and in 'History of the Deccan' (2nd eḍ p. 115-6) refers to an inscription on stone dated śake 1192 (1270 A. D.) in Pandharpur itself, in which Bhānu, son of Keśava, is represented as having performed the Aptoryāma sacrifice in Pāṇḍurangapura 'on account of which crowds and Vitthala were greatly pleased'. There is another earlier inscription in the temple of Vithobā on three sides of a stone beam in a sopā beyond the maṇḍapa (porch) of 16 pillars, the script being Devanāgarī and the language being partly Sanskrit and partly Canarese. It was issued in śake 1159 (1237 A. D) by Hoysala king Someśvara and records the grant of an agrahāra to God Vitthaladeva who resides in a great village called Pandarage situated on the Bhīmarathī river and who made the heart of sage (muni) Pundarika expand (with devotion). Vide Boṃ G. vol. 20 pp. 419-420 and pp. 4-6 of Mr Khare's monograph (on medieval references). The Mysore Archaeological Survey Report for 1929 (pp. 197–210) publishes a copper-plate inscription issued by the Rāṣṭrakūṭa king Avidheya which records a grant of Pāṇḍaranga-palli and four other villages situated to the east of Mahādeva hill to a brāhmaṇa named Jayad-vittha. This grant was confirmed about 820 A. D. by Rāṣṭrakūṭa king Sarvarasa (i. e. Amoghavarṣa I). The editor Dr. Krishna is of opinion that the date of the inscription must be 516 A D. (ibid. p 203). Therefore the important conclusion follows that Pandharpur was known to Canarese people as Pāṇḍarage and was also called Pāṇḍarangapalli. This inscription does not expressly refer to god Vitthala, but the donee's name Jayad-vittha contains the part Vittha which is most probably an early form of Vitthala.

In a work called ‘Vitthalabhūṣaṇa’ ¹¹ by one Gopālācārya about eleven verses are quoted from Hemādri on Tīrtha which are quoted below ¹². Briefly they state an excellent tīrtha ex- ists on the southern bank of the river Bhāimī and there is also a rare but fine image there; it is called Pauṇḍarīkakṣetra and the greatest of gods viz. Pāṇḍuranga worshipped by the whole kṣetra resides there. It is three times holier than Puṣkara, six and ten times holier than Kedāra and Vārāṇasī Pundarīka practised severe austerities at the end of Dvāparayuga in the 28th Kalpa and always devotedly attended upon his parentṣ God Kṛṣṇa who was making a herd of cows graze on Govardhana hill became pleased with him for his devotion to his parents, Kṛṣṇa who wields a stick for driving cows, who has bracelets rendered bright by (the colour) of the umbrella ¹⁶ (shade), who is adorned with a head-gear (mukuta) and a śikkya (a loop) scintillating with the lustre of many jewels, who was very charming and had armlets studded with jewels, who does not (appear to) wear any dhotī, but has his loins covered with niçkers, who is set off by a girdle of three strings tied on his waist and who stands with arms akimbo and appears possessed of three lines on his belly. Though a mṣ of the Tīrtha portion of Hemādri's work has not yet been recovered, there is no reason to doubt that the verses were taken by Gopālācārya from Hemādri's work, particularly when almost all those verses are quoted by the T. S. (about 1500 A. D.) from the Skandapurāṇa and Kūrmapurāṇa. As Hemādri composed his work about 1260 to 1270 A. D. and as the verses quoted by him are cited from the Skandapurāṇa, it follows that several centuries before 1260 A. D. Pandharpur was known as a tīrtha, that the devotee and saint Puṇḍarīka (Marāṭhī ‘Pundlik’) also was so known then and that the image of Viṭhobā was essentially the same in appearance as it is now. That Pandharpur had risen in sanctity and importance in the 15th century follows from the fact that both the great Vaiṣṇava saints, Caitanya and Vallabha, visited it Vide Prof. S. K. De’s ‘Vaiṣṇava faith and movement in Bengal’ p. 71 for It has been already shown from the Bombay Gazetteer that there is a tradition about the image having been removed several times and brought back. On pp. 16–25 of his work Mr. Khare cites various passages from medieval writers in Sanskrit, Marathi and Canarese and comes to the conclusion that the present image is not only not the ancient one but that it was not there in the 17th century, since the characteristics of the present image do not tally with the description contained in the poems of saint Tukārāṃ I do not agree with his conclusionṣ He has overlooked several weighty considerationṣ He has relied upon inferences drawn from the presence of Afzulkhān and the bigoted emperor Aurangzeb in the Deccaṇ I have cited above (pp. 632, 692) references to the demolition of North Indian temples and images on the orders of Aurangzeb, but Mr. Khare has been unable to show any direct reference to the demolition of the temple or the image of Vithobā on the orders of any Moslem king or officer.¹⁵ We cannot rely on mere inferences or not properly authenticated letters or verseṣ Besides, the present image is so much worn that unless one very carefully scrutinizes, it would be difficult to pronounce what articles it holds or what dress it wearṣ Therefore, there is great scope for differences of opinion on the characteristic features of the present image. Conceding for argument that the tradition about the removal of the idol is true, that does not establish that the present image is different from the one that existed in the 13th century or before. The present image has an elongat- ed head dress which some may construe as a simple mukuṭa (crown) with a rim: but the pujārīs and common people regard it as a Śivaliṅga and the rim as the rope of the silya that is carried on the back (by cowherds) The present image has ear-rings (as Mr. Khare admits) but they are so long that they rest on the shoulders The present image has aṅgades (armlets) on the upper arms (and that is the description in the Skanda-purāṇa quoted by Hemādri) The present image has ornaments on the wrists (which the passage from the Skandapurāṇa also mentions). There is a girdle with three strings on the waist of the present image (in Sk. also we have 'trivṛttenānukālena kaṭibaddhena or kaṭibandhena rājitāḥ'). The present image ^1SS does not clearly show that a dhotī was worn (and therefore one reading of the Skanda says that it is 'digvāsāḥ') but the Skanda adds that the image has arms akimbo. In my opinion the description in the Skanda-purāṇa (which must be held to be at least not later than about 1000 A. D.) tallies in essential particulars with the present image; therefore it follows that sufficient evidence has not been adduced to show that it is comparatively a new image and the proposition of Mr. Khare that it is a different one from the original should be held not proved. In the descriptions given by Tukārām and others (p 22 of Mr. Khare's book) actual, legendary and ideal elements are mixed up For example, Tukārām states that the god has 16000 wives (Mr. Khare's book p. 22 'Baila soḷā hajāra' &c.). But Tukārām does mention the facts that the arms are akimbo, that there is no dhoṭi (digambara), and mentions the existence of a śilya, a stick, also a girdle and ornamentṣ Lastly, Mr. Khare does not attach sufficient importance to two facts, one being that about 1873 two Gosavis damaged the image which was later re-installed and pilgrims were forbidden from embracing it. It is quite possible that some of the features already indistinct were lost in these happenings (vide Boṃ G. vol. 20 p. 430). Besides, for hundreds of years the image has been washed with pañcāmṛta (milk, curds, ghee, honey and sugar) and water at least once every day and sometimes several times a day. It is not difficult to imagine that the characteristic marks became blurred by these continual bathṣ

Some other matters require to be dealt with. The image is variously called viz. Pāṇḍuraṅga, Paṇḍhari, Vitthal, Vitthalanātha and Vitthobā.

Viṣṇu assumes in Prakrit the forms Vīṇhu, Vīṇnu, Veṇhu, Veṭha and otherṣ In Canarese Viṣṇu becomes Biṭṭi, Biṭṭiga, Viṭṭa &c. The changes in names do not necessarily follow the rules laid down in Prakrit or Canarese grammars, which rules themselves are often based on meagre data and Mr. A. K. Priyolkar in his learned paper on 'Bhagat Namdeo of the Sikhs' in the Journal of the University of Bombay vol. VII part 2 (1938) points out (p. 24) that in the Ādi Granth of the Sikhs, in the hymns of Namdeo, God is addressed as 'Bithal' or 'Bithalu' (p. 24), that, in the Gujarati poems of Narsinh Mehta and Mirabai, God is addressed as Vitthala (p 35) and Vitthala is employed by these saints meaning only Viṣṇu and not the deity at Pandharpur. The learned Kāśīnātha Upādhyāya, author of Vitthala-ṛṇ-mantrasāra-bhāṣya, derives the word Vitthala as (Vīt+tha+la) ¹⁷,

As regards the name of the kṣetra it appears that originally it was called in Canarese Paṇḍarage, of which Pāṇḍu- raṅga is a sanskritized forṃ When Puṇḍlik, the devotee of Vitthal, became famous the sacred place came to be called Puṇḍarīkapura (as in Kūrma) and Pauṇḍarīkapura (as in Skanda). Vide note 1632 above The pilgrims to Pandharpur may be divided into two classes, regular visitors and occasional visitorṣ The first class comprise those called Vārkaris (lit. those who keep the fixed times). The Vārkaris are of two sorts viz. those who attend every month and those who attend twice a year (on the 11th of Asādha-śukla and Kārtika-śukla). This cult of vārkaris has been a great leveller. In theory and to a large extent in practice it ignores caste exclusivenesṣ A brāhmaṇa vārkari falls at the feet of a śūdra vārkari. There are certain obser vances binding on all vārkaris (for which, vide Boṃ G. vol. 20 p. 471). The vārkarī carries a rosary of Tulasi (basil) beads, foregoes flesh-eating, observes a fast on ekādaśī, carries an ochre-coloured Pātaka (swallow-tailed banner) and is to speak the truth (and not to cheat) when engaged in his daily occupationṣ

Some people think that the image of Vithobā is really Buddhist or Jaiṇ There is hardly any evidence for thiṣ When such Marāthi poets and saints as Ekanātha, and Tukārām speak of Vithobā as Bauddhavatāra they have Viṣṇu in mind,¹⁸ whose 9th avatāra was Buddha according to the Purāṇas and medieval writerṣ

The question of the attitude that modern Hindus should adopt towards holy places and pilgrimages will be briefly dealt with at the end of the next chapter on the list of tīrthas. CHAPTER XVI