Cosmography and Geography in Early Indian Literature c5.s2.26

c5.s2.26

The conception regarding the divine character of the Sarasvatī and the holiness of Kurukṣetra leads us to the question of tīrtha-yātrā or pilgrimage to holy places for the sake of religious merit. We have elsewhere suggested that tīrtha-yātrā was a Nonaryan religious institution which took some time in being fully approved by the Brahmanical society.⁶⁹ The Nirukta (12. 19) of Yāska, who is assigned to a date between 500 and 700 B.C., while explaining the Ṛgvedic passage tredhā nidadhe padam, quotes an earlier authority named Aurnavābha as saying that Viṣṇu plants his foot at Samārohaṇa, Viṣṇupada and Gayaśiras, the last of the three holy spots being no doubt identical with modern Gayā in Bihar. We have seen above how the Baudhāyana Dharmasūtra prescribes expiation for visit to the lands of the Āraṭṭa, Kāraskara, Puṇḍra, Sauvīra, Vaṅga, Kaliṅga and Prāṇūna peoples. Another traditional verse apparently of a later date, however, says that punaḥ-saṃskāra is not required if one visits the Aṅga, Vaṅga, Kaliṅga, Saurāṣṭra and Magadha countries for the purpose of pilgrimage.⁷⁰ This would refer to a date earlier than the Manusmṛti which, as we have seen, includes most of the said territories in Āryāvarta. A khila verse placed in the Ṛgveda (x. 75) mentions Prayāga, i.e. the holy confluence of rivers which was often selected for the performance of sacrifice (prayāga), the Gaṅgā-Yamunā-saṅgama near Allahabad being regarded as the most celebrated among such confluences in the later days.