Papaharini-kunda - Bihar

Papaharini is a tank at the foot of Mandara Hill. The Skanda Purana and Mahabharata say that Lord Vishnu defeated the demons Madhu and Kaitaba with Mandara Hill in a battle lasting 10,000 years at the dawn of creation. The demons tried to steal the Vedas while Lord Brahma slept, and Lord Vishnu thrust the hill over them and stopped their activities.A temple of Lord Madhusudana (the killer of Madhu) is near the hill. Caitanya-Bhagavata records that Lord Caitanya came to Mandara Hill and, after seeing the Deity of Lord Madhusudana, wandered on the hillside enjoying His pastimes. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati installed a marble impression of Lord Caitanya's footprints beside the hill to memorialize that visit. Some say this Mandara Hill was the churning rod used by the demigods and demons to chum nectar from the milk ocean. They cite as evidence two thick parallel lines about six feet apart which mn around the hill and could be the impressions left by the coils of the serpent who served as the churning rope. Engineers say the 700-foot-high, steep, granite hill offers hardly any footholds and that it would be extremely difficult for anyone to leave those marks on the massive hill without modem equipment. But others say the grooves w§re chiseled onto the hill and that another Mandara Hill in the Himalayas was used as the churning rod.An inscription discovered on Mandara Hill in modem times says that a king and queen named Adityasena and Konda-devi Gupta installed Lord Narahari in a temple on the hill and that the queen had the Papaharini tank excavated.A king from Kamataka once took a bath in the tank on Makar Sakranti day and was cured of a disease, and the tank has gained a reputation for curing diseases on that day. Seeking cures, large crowds assemble on that day and on the days of eclipses and certain full moon days.Brahma-kunda, a place where Lord Caitanya bathed and gave charity. Located in Rajgir, the former capital of Jarasandha, where Bhima tore Jarasandha's body in half.Muchalinda Sarovara in Bodh Gaya, where Lord Buddha meditated and bathed. During a fierce storm, Muchalinda, the serpent king Ananta-sesha, appeared and protected Buddha.