The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c17.s1.94

v2.c17.s1.94

**Gauri Kunda :—**Immediately to the south of the last, within a distance of about thirty feet there occurs the Kuṇḍa above referred to; it has the alternative name of Kedāra Kuṇḍa. The ground round it is about three feet lower than what it is round the first named tank, and is densely shaded by a number of mango trees. The tank is 70 feet long, and 28 feet broad, and has a depth of 16 feet. Its sides are perpendicular, being lined by stone revetments; but on the south side there is a flight of stone steps, 20 feet long, and altogether 10 feet broad: the bottom is formed of small boulders. Its water is tepid, but not so as to be in any way injurious to fish; for I saw a number of them—small ones—playing about in excellent condition. This was the more remarkable as there was no moss or vegetation of any kind, except a few decayed mango leaves which occasionally drop in, on which they could live. The water was beautifully clear, and every part of the bottom was visible through a depth of 8 feet of water. Its taste was also excellent, and nowhere else in Bhuvaneśvara can water be had of such quality. The tiny streamlet of spring water noticed above, flows into the tank through an orifice of about 2 square inches, and is barely sufficient to meet the requirements of the people for the water, being the best available in all Bhuvaneśvara, is taken away for drinking purpose by all who can afford the labour; but the tank is always full, and there is on the south-east corner a waste-pipe the end of which is carved into the form of a giant head, and through it flows out a larger stream than what flows into the tank. This waste water is sufficient for the irrigation of over twenty to thirty acres of arid laterite soil. This shows that the Kuṇḍa has a spring in its bottom. Such a tank, in so sacred a place as Bhuvaneśvara, could not but command the highest veneration, and local legends assign to it the greatest sanctity. According to the *Śiva Purāṇa*, the tank was excavated by the goddess Gaurī with her own hands, and endowed with the most transcendental virtues. To those who resort to it, it bestows beauty of person, good fortune, and freedom from all sins. The conviction is that a devotee who, putting a few seeds of the black sessamum on his head, bathes in it for a year, beginning with the 9th of the wane in any month, obtains whatever he desires. The *Kapila Saṃhitā* repeats this story; but it is not pleased with the slow progress of virtue attained by a year's penance. Accordingly it says that a single sip of the water is enough to emancipate the drinker from all future transmigrations.