Swami Pushkarani Theertham

Thirthas and their importance

Sri Venkatachalam is a shrine about 110 miles wide and 30 miles long. It is flourishing with about 360 Thirthas present in it. Puranas quoted that by bathing in those Thirthas one will be relieved of all sins - Pacha maha pathakas, and will be blessed with health and happiness.

Swami Pushkarani Thirtha

This is the most famous of all thirthas in Venkatachalam. Here Srimannarayana used to bathe along his wife.

Nanda was a king of the Chandra dynasty. He grew old. So he made his son, Dharma Gupta king. He left the kingdom and went to the forest to so penance.

One day Dharma Gupta went to the forest for hunting. After some sport he felt tired. The sun had already set by then. So he climbed up a tree for safety and rest. He thought wild beasts would not harm him. But, just then a bear climbed up the same tree. The king was afraid of it. The bear said,"O, King don't fear. A lion which chased me is waiting to kill me. It is waiting under the tree. If by chance any of us fall down it will surely kill and eat. So, for the first half of this night you sleep on my lap and I will sleep on yours in the second half. At day break the lion will move away and we may safely climb down and go our way." The king agreed to this arrangement and had slept on the bear's lap.

The lion said to the bear, "Push down the king. I will satisfy my hunger and go my way and you may have your way." The bear did not wish to break the agreement with the King. It kept up its word and guarded the king.

It was now the bear's turn to sleep. It slept on the king's lap. Now the lion said to the king. "O, king the bear is a cruel animal. Even if I leave you, It will surely kill you. Your death is therefore certain. To get over this danger, you may push the bear down so that I may kill and eat it; and you will be saved."

The king believed the lion's words and pushed the bear down.By the grace of God, the bear woke up and caught hold of a branch of the tree to avoid falling down. It said to the lion, "You are Kubera's minister. Your name is Badhran. By the curse of Gautama rishi you became a lion. I belong to Brighu's race. My name is Dahrmakastan. I took this form only to restore you, your original form. This king has broken his promise and tried to kill me. He will therefore become a lunatic and wander in the woods."

The lion and the bear now turned Badhran and Dharmakastan respectively and teh King became a lunatic. The king was wondering in the woods. His subjects coming to know of the King's sad plight went to his father Nanda, who was doing penance in the forest, and informed him of this.

Nanda felt sad. He approached Jaimini maharishi and sought his advice to get over the suffering of his son. The maharishi by his spiritual powers found out the reason behind this and asked Nanda to make his son bathe in Swami Pushkarani Thirtha to the necessary relief.

Accordingly, Nanda took his to Venkatachalam and made him bathe in Swami Pushkarani. Immediately Dharma Gupta became quite well. He prayed Lord Venkateswara devotedly. He also donated a few villages in his Kingdom to the Lord and returned home.

Anyone who bathes in Pushkarani will get his sins washed off and attain mukti.