Pancapsara-tirtha

There were five Apsaras named Lata, Budbuda, Samici, Saurabheyi, and Varna, who were sent by Lord Indra to break the austerities of a saintly person named Acyuta Risi. He remained undisturbed by their enticements but cursed them to become crocodiles for a hundred years. The girls pleaded for forgiveness, so the kind sage told them that when a man lifted them out of the water they would regain their original forms. Then they left that place and met Narada Muni, who asked them to go to these five ponds near the southern ocean, where Arjuna would come and relieve them of their miserable forms. When Arjuna went to visit the holy places, he came to this place and wanted to bathe, but some sages prohibited him because the five crocodiles killed all the bathers.

Arjuna learned about the condemnation of the five Apsaras and convinced the sages of his power and received their permission and blessings to deliver the Apsaras. When he bathed in the first pond, a crocodile caught him. But the mighty Arjuna lifted the crocodile and took it out of the water. As soon as it was taken out of the water, the crocodile turned into a beautiful celestial girl. Arjuna inquired who she was, and the girl said she was an Apsara named Varna, the beloved of Kuvera. Arjuna then bathed in the other four pounds and transformed all the crocodiles back into Apsaras. They paid their obeisances to Arjuna and I left for the heavenly planets, and from that day the lakes came to be known as Pancapsara and became a place of pilgrimage. Lord Rama, Lord Balarama, Lord Nityananda, Madhvacarya, and Ramanujacarya visited this tirtha.

It is said that whoever bathes at this tirtha and fasts for five nights becomes a devotee of Lord Narayana. The sacred town Melukote (Thirunarayana-puram) is where Tirunarayana and Rampriya reside. Lord Ramachandra, Lord Krishna, Lord Balarama, Dattatreya, the Pandavas, Parashara Muni, Sanat Kumar and Sri Ramanujacarya all visited this place. Kaveri Falls on Shiva Samudram, an island in the Kaveri River, where the river descends into Tamil Nadu.

The Kaveri River is known as the southern Ganga and originally flowed from Mount Kailash into Agastya Muni's water pot. Three sacred islands are found in her waters: Adi Rangam (Sri Rangapattanam), Madhya Rangam (Shiva Samudram), and Antarangam (Sri Rangam).Panckakalyani-tirtha (foreground) and Sri Yoga Narasimha Swamy Mandir (background). Here Prahlad Maharaja worshiped a self-manifested Deity of Lord Narasimha. The Deity manifested from a shaligram shila that Prahlad obtained in the Gandaki River.