Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c8.345

c8.345

MĀNASA IV. (MĀNASASARAS). A lake on the peak of the Himālayas. Arjuna visited this lake once. (Śloka 4, Chapter 8, Sabhā Parva). In the precincts of this lake many devotees conduct Śiva-worship. They believe they would merge with Śiva at the end of the yuga. Those who bathe in that pond would acquire mokṣa. Mānasasaras is called Ujjānaka also. Vasiṣṭha and Arundhatī became realised souls at this place. (Śloka 14, Chapter 130, Vana Parva). A sage who lived in Mānasasaras in the form of a swan visited Bhīṣma while he was lying on his bed of arrows. (Śloka 98, Chapter 119, Bhīṣma Parva). Once a Devī named Upaśruti pointed out Indra who was hiding amongst the lotus stems in Mānasasaras. It was Brahmā who made this lotus lake and the river Sarayū starts from here. (Bālakāṇḍa, Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa).