History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c72.25

v5.c72.25

Some of the digests, on the authority of several Purāṇas, prescribe that the dying man should be taken, if possible, near a holy place (*tīrtha*) such as the Ganges. For example, the Śuddhitattva⁴³⁴ (p 299) quotes a passage from the Kūrmapurāṇa to this effect 'a man attains *mokṣa* (final release from *saṃsāra*) by dying in the waters of the Ganges, on land or in water at Vārānasī (Benares) and at the confluence of the Ganges with the sea either on land, in water or in the air.’ Another passage to the same effect is quoted from the ‘Skanda-purāna and it is further said in the same Purāna that for one *gavyūti* from the banks of the Ganges is a *kṣetra* (holy place): ‘gifts, *japa* (muttering of sacred texts), *homa* performed within this extent is equal to doing the same on the Ganges itself, those who die within this *kṣetra* go to heaven and are not born again.’ In the Pujāratnākara⁴³⁵ it is said: ‘Hari is present wherever there is the Śālagrāma stone; one dying near a Śālagrāma stone reaches the highest abode of Viṣṇu’. It was said that a person (even a non-Aryan) dying within one krośa of a Śālagrāma reaches Vaikuṇṭha (world of Viṣṇu) Similarly, one dying in a garden of *tulasī* (Basil) plants or with Tulasī leaf placed in his mouth at the time of death attains *mokṣa* even if guilty of crores of sins. These are popular notions held even up to this day among common people, not thoroughly affected by modern ideas.