Describing the holiness of Kokamukh tirth, lord Varaha narrated a tale to Prithvi-“Once a fisherman was trying to catch a large fish in a lake situated at Kokamukh. Suddenly a hawk which was flying in the sky, descended down and after picking the fish in its beak tried to fly away. But as the fish was a large one, the hawk could not hold it for too long. As a result, the hawk fell on the ground being unable to bear the weight of the fish. But amazingly, the hawk turned into a handsome prince as soon as it touched the ground.”
“In the meantime, the fisherman’s wife arrived there carrying some meat-pieces in her hand. A kite, which was flying in the sky tried to snatch those meat-pieces. Seeing this, the fisherman killed that kite with one shot of his arrow. In course of time, the kite took rebirth as a princess of Chandrapur. She was extremely beautiful but hated men. Similarly, the fish was reborn as a prince. As the destiny would have liked it, both of them got married. There was a dramatic change in the attitude of the princess after the marriage as she no longer hated men. On the contrary, she loved her husband so much that she dreaded the thought of separation for even a moment.”
“One day, the prince had a severe headache which showed no sign of subsiding. The princess became very worried and summoned the royal physician. The physician left no stone unturned to cure his royal physician but without any success. Somehow, the prince remembered everything about his previous birth and had a firm belief that he would be cured of his illness once he reached Kokamukh- the sacrosanct place of pilgrimage. So he decided to go there accompanied by the princess.”
“Both of them reached a place at Kokamukh where they saw the remains (skeleton) of a fish lying on the ground. The prince revealed to his wife that he was a fish in his previous birth and that the skeleton was his. Then he went on to describe the cause of his headache which according
to him was due to the injury sustained in his past birth when he had been badly mauled by a hawk. The princess was aware of her past birth as a kite, so she revealed how she had been killed by a fisherman in her previous birth. She also told her husband – ‘Dying at Kokamukh in my previous birth prove to be a blessing to me as I was reborn as a princess. Had it not been so, I would certainly have not born as a princess.” “Both of them worshipped lord Vishnu and as a result the prince was cured of his severe headache. Such is the greatness of Kokamukh- the reliever of all pains and miseries.”
MAYAPURI (HARIDWAR)
Narrating about the sanctity of Mayapuri, lord Varaha told Prithvi- “There lived a brahmin named Somsharma at Mayapuri. He was a great devotee of mine (lord Sri Hari) and had an impossible desire of witnessing my divine powers by his mortal eyes. I tried to make him understand about the futility of his desire but to no avail. Finally I was left with no option but to fulfil his wish. One day Somsharma had gone to take his bath in the holy Ganges. Hardly had he taken a dip than he found himself experiencing the pangs of birth in the womb of a nishad woman. Evidently, lord Sri Hari had began giving a glimpse of his divine powers to Somsharma. It was a terrible experience for him and he vowed to lead a chaste life as soon as he came out of the womb.” “Unfortunately, he forgot everything about his vow once he took rebirth as a girl. In course of time, the girl grew up and married a young nishad. She had many children from him. One day, the nishad girl who in reality was Somsharma, went to take a bath in the holy Ganges. As soon as she entered into the river, she got transformed into a hermit. She was filled with extreme bewilderment but this was not the end, as there were more surprises to come.”
“The hermit (previously nishad and originally Somsharma) came out of the river and looked all around in amazement. He then sat down to meditate and very soon he was engrossed in his meditation. In the evening, some sages arrived and said- ‘Sir! How come you are sitting here? You had gone to take a bath. We became anxious and started searching for you when you did not return till evening.” “The hermit was bewildered by the turn of events as he was aware of every incident that had occured. He was also well aware that he had spent fifty years as nishad-woman, but according to the statements of hermits he had been absent only for few hours. The hermit was totally confused about his real identity. I (lord Varaha) felt pity on his miserable condition and decided to lift my magic spell. I asked him whether his wish of witnessing my divine powers had been fulfilled or not. The hermit eulogized me and agreed that it was impossible for any mortal to understand the ways of Aimighty. I then blessed him and transformed him into Somsharma once again.” Such is the grandeur of Mayapuri- the sacrosanct place where lord Sri Hari has manifested his divine powers. A devotee who goes on a pilgrimage to Mayapuri never gets entangeled in the worldly illusions.
KUBJAMRAK TIRTH (HRISHIKESH)
Describing how Kubjamrak tirth derived its name, lord Varaha told Prithvi- “In Satya Yuga, at the time when the earth was still submerged in water, I had killed two mighty demons named Madhu and Kaitabh. After killing both the demons I looked all around and found sage Raimya engrossed in his penance. Sage Raimya was a great devotee of mine. I was extremely impressed and watched him hiding myself behind a mango tree. The mango tree could not bear the weight of my hands and became curved. This is how Kubjamrak tirth derived its name. Very soon, sage
Raimya found out that I was hiding behind that mango tree. He eulogized me and requested me to to grant a special status to Kubjamrak tirth among all the holy places. I blessed him and thus Kubjamrak tirth became one of the holiest places. There are several other holy places situated in the vicinity of Kubjamrak tirth, Manas tirth, Maya tirth, Sarvakamik tirth, Purnamukh tirth, Agni tirth, Shukra terth, Manasar tirth, Sapta samudrak tirth, etc. All these holy places including Kubjamrak tirth are capable of giving salvation to a man.”