History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c74.t2.332

v5.c74.t2.332

It is a remarkable fact that though the Vanaparva in chap. 83 enumerates several tīrthas on the Sarasvatī and in Kurukṣetra, they do not at all tally with the tīrthas mentioned in the Brāhmaṇas and the Śrautasūtras (except Vinaśana which is mentioned in Vanaparva 83.11 and probably Saraka which may be identified with Parisaraka of the Ait. Br.). This means that the Vanaparva account of Sarasvatī and Kurukṣetra is later by some centuries than that in the Śrautasūtras. The Nāradīya (uttara, chap. 65) names about one hundred tīrthas in Kurukṣetra. It is not possible to set out all of them. But a few words may be said about some of them. First comes the lake called Brahmasaras or Pavana-hrada (Vanaparva 83. 85, Vāmana 49. 38–41, Nāradīya, uttara 65 95) on which Kuru stayed as an ascetic. A. G. (pp. 334–335) remarks that the lake is 3546 feet long east to west and 1900 feet wide north to south. The Vāmanapurāṇa (22. 50–55) describes it at some length and says that it was half a *yojana* in extent. Cakratīrtha (mentioned by Vāmanapurāṇa 42. 5, 57. 89 and 81. 3) is popularly supposed to be the place where Kṛṣṇa took up the discus for attacking Bhīṣma. Vyāsasthalī¹⁵⁵⁵ (named in Vanaparva 84 96, Nāradīya, uttarārdha 65. 83 and Padma I. 26. 90–91) is the same as modern Basthalī, 17 miles to the south-west of Thanesar where Vyāsa resolved to die on the loss of his son. Asthipura (Padma, Ādi 27. 62) is on the west of Thanesar and south of Aujasaghāṭ where the bodies of the warriors killed in the Great Bhārata war were cremated. Cunningham in Archaeological Survey Reports of India vol. II. p. 219 states that Cakratīrtha is the same as Asthipura and that in Alberuni's time it was the most famous shrine in Kurukṣetra. Pṛthūdaka on the Sarasvatī is very highly spoken of in Vanaparva 83. 142–149. 'They say¹⁵⁵⁶ that Kurukṣetra is holy, that Sarasvatī is holier than Kurukṣetra, that the sacred spots (on Sarasvatī) are holier than the river Sarasvatī and that Pṛthūdaka is holier than all the other tīrthas on Sarasvatī. There is no tīrtha that is better than Pṛthūdaka'. The Śalyaparva¹⁵⁵⁷ remarks that whoever, while intently engaged in repeating holy texts, abandons his life at Pṛthūdaka on the northern bank of the Sarasvatī would not be troubled by death next day (i. e. he would be free from birth and death) The Vāmanapurāṇa (39. 20 and 23) calls it Brahmayonitīrtha. Pṛthūdaka is modern Pehova in the Karnal District in Panjab, 14 miles to the west of Thanesar. Vide E. I. vol. I. p. 184 for the Pehova inscription from the temple of Garibnath dated in *saṁvat* 276 (of the Harṣa Era) i e. 882–883 A. D., which records the agreement of certain pious horsedealers to impose on themselves and their customers certain taxes and tithes for the benefit of some priests and temples, one of which was the temple of Viṣṇu in his Yajñavarāha avatāra built at Pṛthūdaka.