History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c74.t2.256

v5.c74.t2.256

The Tristhalīsetu (p 368) remarks that the above are the fixed rites for seven days in Gayā, that other tīrthas may be visited according to one's convenience if one stays in Gayā for half a month or a month; that the śrāddha at the Pretaśilā is to be the first and that at the Akṣayavaṭa is to be performed at the end,¹⁵⁰⁷ and that although there is variation between the order in which tīrthas are to be visited on the several days according to the Vāyupurāṇa, the Agnipurāṇa and other purāṇas, yet as the Vāyupurāṇa is most detailed as regards Gayā rites, the order therein should be followed and that one not knowing the order may visit the tīrthas in any order¹⁵⁰⁸ except Pretaśilā and Akṣayavaṭa. Gayāyātrā, chapter 112 of the Vāyupurāṇa, refers to king Gaya who performed a *yajña* and who got two boons, one about the restoration of the Gayā brāhmaṇas to favour and the other that Gayāpurī be named after him and who then went to Viṣṇuloka. Then it narrates the story of king Viśāla (verses 7-15) who being sonless performed piṇḍadāna on Gayāśīrṣa and thereby saved his three ancestors, got a son and also himself went to heaven. Then another story is told (verses 16-20) of a deceased person, who was in the condition of a preta, offering one-sixth of his property to a trader and asking him to perform Gayāśrāddha with the rest of his wealth and who on account of śrāddha at Gayā became free from the condition of preta.¹⁵⁰⁹ Then verses 20-60 mention several other tīrthas of Gayā such as Gāyatrītīrtha, Prācī-sarasvatītīrtha, Viśālā, Lelihāna, the hermitage of Bharata, Muṇḍapṛṣṭha, Ākāśagaṅgā, Vaitaraṇī and other rivers and sacred places. It winds up by saying that six Gayās confer *mukti* (by worship and piṇḍadāna at them), viz. Gayāgaja, Gayāditya, Gāyatrī (tīrtha), Gadādhara, Gayā and Gayāśiras.1509a