History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c74.t2.152.3

v5.c74.t2.152.3

Śiva who is like the wish-yielding jewel whispers in the ear (karṇikā) of good men the Tāraka mantra at the time of death. The extent of Maṇikarṇikā north to south is said to be 105 *hastas* i e. about 160 feet (Kāśīkhaṇḍa 99. 54). In modern times the waters of the Maṇikarṇikā pool become foul and fetid because it is shallow (two or three feet deep), because hundreds of pilgrims cast into it flowers and money by way of worship and because the priests stir the waters with their hands and feet to find the coins dropped by pilgrims. Our methods of worship must be changed The flowers and gifts should be placed on the banks of the pool and then taken away by the priests. The Tri S. p. 147 mentions several mantras (two of which are set out below) to be recited when contemplating on Maṇikarṇikā ¹⁴⁵⁷. Near the Maṇikarṇikā pool is the temple of Tārakeśvara so named from the belief that Śiva will whisper the mantra called *tāraka* in the ear of the dying man brought to the sacred pool (vide Kāśīkhaṇḍa 7.78, 25. 72-73 and 32. 115-116). The Pañcagaṅgā ghāṭ is so called because it is supposed that five rivers, viz the Kiraṇā,¹⁴⁵⁸ Dhūtapāpā, Gaṅgā, Yamunā and Sarasvatī, meet here (though four of them are invisible) This is very highly eulogised and it is said in the Nāradīyapurāṇa and the Kāśīkhaṇḍa (59. 118-133) that when a man takes a bath in the Pañcanada he is not born again in a body made up of the five elements. It is said that this confluence of five rivers had different names viz.