Vaitarna river
Encyclopedia
Vaitarna or Vaitarani river, as mentioned in the Garuda Purana
and various other Hindu religious texts, lies between the earth and the infernal
world, the realm of Yama
, Hindu god of death, or the Yamaloka
and is believed to purify ones sins. Further while the righteous see it filled with nectar like water, the sinful see it filled with blood.. The sinful souls are supposed to cross this river after death. According to the Garuda Purana
this river falls on the path leading to the Southern Gate of the city of Yama
. It is also mentioned that only the sinful souls come via the southern gate.
However, other texts like the Harihareshwara Mahatmya in the Skanda Purana
, mentions a physical river as well, that joins in eastern ocean and he who bathes in it is forever free from the torment of Yama. It first appears in the TirthaYatra Parva (Pilgrimage Episode) of the Mahabharat, where it is mentioned to be rising from the Vindhyas and falling into the Bay of Bengal
after passing through Orissa
as present Baitarani River
. Apart from that it appears in Matsya Purana
, and Vamana Purana
, lastly it is the Padma Purana
which reveals the etymology of Vaitarani in Vaitarani Mahatmya, where it is defined as Vai (truly) tarini (saving) and that related the legend wherein it was brought on to the earth from Patala, due to the penance of Parashurama
resulting in a boon from Shiva
.
It is equivalent to the Styx
river in Greek mythology
and associated with the Vaitarani Vrata
, observed on the eleventh day of the Dark phase of the moon, Krishna Paksha
of Margashirsha month in Hindu calendar
, wherein a cow is worshipped and donated, which is believed to take one across the dreaded river as mentioned in Garuda Purana, verse 77-82.
The river was created only for the sinful. It is extremely difficult to cross and the other bank cannot be seen.
do not travel on the path through which the Vaitarna River flows.
. In this City the sinners along with the souls with good deeds are judged by the Lord of Justice (Yama
or Yamaraja). The sinners are taken to hell
and the better souls are taken to heaven
.
If a soul cannot cross the Vaitarna River then he cannot be taken to hell. He is stuck at its shore. Thus this prevents him from getting reborn on earth as human or animal. These souls are considered as the ghosts who have not passed on and are stuck.
Thus the Vaitarna helps strip the subtle body (soul
) of the last vestiges of the gross body so as to make it subtle enough to make it possible for it to enter the Region of the Dead.
It can also be taken to mean that if one lives a sinful material life on earth, then one is subjected to the constant cycles of rebirth after death. Therefore when a man dies, the soul has to cross a river filled with blood, bones and tissues( symbolic of a mother's womb)in order to be born again. But if the man lived the riteous path then he does not have to cross the river meaning he can escape the cycle of rebirth, escaping also the pain and suffering.
Garuda Purana
Garuda Purana is one of the Puranas which are part of the Hindu body of texts known as smriti. It is a Vaishnava Purana and its first part contains a dialog between Vishnu and Garuda, the King of Birds...
and various other Hindu religious texts, lies between the earth and the infernal
Infernal
Infernal may refer to:* pertaining to hell* Infernal , a Danish dance/club band* Infernal , a Swedish black metal band* Infernal , a 2005 novel by F...
world, the realm of Yama
Yama
Yama , also known as Yamarāja in India and Nepal, Shinje in Tibet, Yanluowang or simply Yan in China, Yeomla Daewang in South Korea and Enma Dai-Ō in Japan, is the lord of death, in Hinduism and then adopted into Buddhism and then further into Chinese mythology and Japanese mythology. First...
, Hindu god of death, or the Yamaloka
Loka
Loka is a Sanskrit word for "world". In Hindu mythology it takes a specific meaning related to cosmology.-Hindu tradition:In the Puranas, and already in the Atharvaveda, there are fourteen worlds, seven higher ones and seven lower ones , viz...
and is believed to purify ones sins. Further while the righteous see it filled with nectar like water, the sinful see it filled with blood.. The sinful souls are supposed to cross this river after death. According to the Garuda Purana
Garuda Purana
Garuda Purana is one of the Puranas which are part of the Hindu body of texts known as smriti. It is a Vaishnava Purana and its first part contains a dialog between Vishnu and Garuda, the King of Birds...
this river falls on the path leading to the Southern Gate of the city of Yama
Yama
Yama , also known as Yamarāja in India and Nepal, Shinje in Tibet, Yanluowang or simply Yan in China, Yeomla Daewang in South Korea and Enma Dai-Ō in Japan, is the lord of death, in Hinduism and then adopted into Buddhism and then further into Chinese mythology and Japanese mythology. First...
. It is also mentioned that only the sinful souls come via the southern gate.
However, other texts like the Harihareshwara Mahatmya in the Skanda Purana
Skanda Purana
The Skanda Purana is the largest Mahapurana, a genre of eighteen Hindu religious texts. The text is devoted mainly to the lilas of Kartikeya , a son of Shiva and Parvati. It also contains a number of legends about Shiva, and the holy places associated with him...
, mentions a physical river as well, that joins in eastern ocean and he who bathes in it is forever free from the torment of Yama. It first appears in the TirthaYatra Parva (Pilgrimage Episode) of the Mahabharat, where it is mentioned to be rising from the Vindhyas and falling into the Bay of Bengal
Bay of Bengal
The Bay of Bengal , the largest bay in the world, forms the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. It resembles a triangle in shape, and is bordered mostly by the Eastern Coast of India, southern coast of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to the west and Burma and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the...
after passing through Orissa
Orissa
Orissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...
as present Baitarani River
Baitarani River
The Baitarani River or River Vaitarani is one of six major rivers of Orissa, India. Venerated in popular epics and legends, the Baitarani River is a source of water for agricultural irrigation. Most of the potentially arable land in the area is not under cultivation. The coastal plain of Orissa...
. Apart from that it appears in Matsya Purana
Matsya Purana
Matsya Purana is the sixteenth purana of the Hindu scriptures. During the period of mahapralaya, Lord Vishnu had taken Matsya Avatar to save the seeds of all lives and Manu...
, and Vamana Purana
Vamana Purana
The Vamana Purana, , one of the eighteen Mahapuranas, a genre of Hindu religious texts, is devoted to the Vamana Avatar of Vishnu. It has a eulogy praising both Vishnu and Shiva....
, lastly it is the Padma Purana
Padma Purana
Padma Purana , one of the major eighteen Puranas, a Hindu religious text, is divided into five parts.In the first part of the text, sage Pulastya explains to Bhishma about religion and the essence of the religion. The second part describes in detail Prithvi...
which reveals the etymology of Vaitarani in Vaitarani Mahatmya, where it is defined as Vai (truly) tarini (saving) and that related the legend wherein it was brought on to the earth from Patala, due to the penance of Parashurama
Parashurama
Parashurama , is the sixth avatar of Vishnu and belongs to the treta yuga, and is the son of a Brahmin father Jamadagni and mother Renuka. He is considered one of the seven immortal human. He received an axe after undertaking a terrible penance to please Shiva, from whom he learned the methods of...
resulting in a boon from Shiva
Shiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
.
It is equivalent to the Styx
Styx
In Greek mythology the Styx is the river that forms the boundary between the underworld and the world of the living, as well as a goddess and a nymph that represents the river.Styx may also refer to:-Popular culture:...
river in Greek mythology
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
and associated with the Vaitarani Vrata
Vrata
In the context of Hinduism and Hindu mythology, the term vrata denotes a religious practice to carry out certain obligations with a view to achieve divine blessing for fulfillment of one or several desires. Etymologically, vrata, a Sanskrit word , means to vow or to promise...
, observed on the eleventh day of the Dark phase of the moon, Krishna Paksha
Paksha
Paksha , is a fortnight in a month of the Hindu lunar calendar. Literally meaning side or period, that is either side of the Full Moon Day or Purnima...
of Margashirsha month in Hindu calendar
Hindu calendar
The hindu calendar used in ancient times has undergone many changes in the process of regionalization, and today there are several regional Indian calendars, as well as an Indian national calendar. Nepali calendar, Bengali calendar, Malayalam calendar, Tamil calendar, Telugu calendar, Kannada...
, wherein a cow is worshipped and donated, which is believed to take one across the dreaded river as mentioned in Garuda Purana, verse 77-82.
Description of the river
This river is very frightening and when seen inspires misery. Even hearing an account of this river arouses fear. It is a hundred yojanas in width and it does not contain water. It is a river full of blood and pus with heaps of bones on its banks and mud of blood and flesh. It is impossible for a sinful soul to cross this river as he is obstructed by hairy moss and the river is filled with huge crocodiles and crowded with hundreds of flesh-eating birds. When a sinner comes near the river in an attempt to cross, it seethes and becomes overspread with smoke and flames like butter in a frying pan. It is also covered with dreadful throngs of insects with piercing stings and vultures and crows with metallic beaks. In addition to crocodiles it also contains leeches, fishes, turtles and other flesh-eating water animals. It is said that the hungry and thirsty sinful souls drink the blood flowing in the river. The sinners who fall into it wail with pain and fright. There is no rescuer for them. The hundreds of whirlpools in the river takes the ones fallen in to the lower region. They stay for a moment in the lower region and then they rise again.The river was created only for the sinful. It is extremely difficult to cross and the other bank cannot be seen.
Ways to cross the river
There are a few ways to cross this river. It is important to note that as mentioned in the description of the river, only those souls who have sinned have to cross this river. The souls with good deeds or good karmaKarma
Karma in Indian religions is the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect originating in ancient India and treated in Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh philosophies....
do not travel on the path through which the Vaitarna River flows.
- The person who commits good deeds in his life and does not have to cross this river.
- A sinner who has done certain meritorious deeds can get a boat to cross the river after travelling on the terrible way of YamaYamaYama , also known as Yamarāja in India and Nepal, Shinje in Tibet, Yanluowang or simply Yan in China, Yeomla Daewang in South Korea and Enma Dai-Ō in Japan, is the lord of death, in Hinduism and then adopted into Buddhism and then further into Chinese mythology and Japanese mythology. First...
for some time. These deeds include donating a cow, food, wealth or any sacrifice etc. - It is said that even though a person is a sinner, if he is following a real spiritual guruGuruA guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...
, the sinner can cross the river holding his Guru's hand. - If the sinner cannot cross using the above two methods, he has to wait many years till it is decided that he will cross or the servants of YamaYamaYama , also known as Yamarāja in India and Nepal, Shinje in Tibet, Yanluowang or simply Yan in China, Yeomla Daewang in South Korea and Enma Dai-Ō in Japan, is the lord of death, in Hinduism and then adopted into Buddhism and then further into Chinese mythology and Japanese mythology. First...
drag him through the river. - The descendents of the sinful soul can help him cross the river by chanting the name "Shree Gurudev Datta". This is the chant for the Hindu god DattatreyaDattatreyaDattatreya or Datta is a Hindu deity encompassing the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, collectively known as Trimurti. The name Dattatreya can be divided into two words - "Datta" and "Atreya" referring to the sage Atri, his physical father.Various Hindu sects worship him differently...
.
Consequences of successfully crossing the river
After successfully crossing this river, the sinners reach the terrifying Southern Gate of the City of YamaYama
Yama , also known as Yamarāja in India and Nepal, Shinje in Tibet, Yanluowang or simply Yan in China, Yeomla Daewang in South Korea and Enma Dai-Ō in Japan, is the lord of death, in Hinduism and then adopted into Buddhism and then further into Chinese mythology and Japanese mythology. First...
. In this City the sinners along with the souls with good deeds are judged by the Lord of Justice (Yama
Yama
Yama , also known as Yamarāja in India and Nepal, Shinje in Tibet, Yanluowang or simply Yan in China, Yeomla Daewang in South Korea and Enma Dai-Ō in Japan, is the lord of death, in Hinduism and then adopted into Buddhism and then further into Chinese mythology and Japanese mythology. First...
or Yamaraja). The sinners are taken to hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
and the better souls are taken to heaven
Heaven
Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
.
If a soul cannot cross the Vaitarna River then he cannot be taken to hell. He is stuck at its shore. Thus this prevents him from getting reborn on earth as human or animal. These souls are considered as the ghosts who have not passed on and are stuck.
Another explanation
This is in fact a subtle sheath of the Absolute Cosmic Water element around the Earth region. This sheath itself is the river Vaitarna. After death, the subtle bodies (souls) take a dip in the Vaitarna and enter the Nether region. The remaining excretory gases and sub-vital energies related to the physical body accompanying the subtle body are discharged into the Vaitarna.Thus the Vaitarna helps strip the subtle body (soul
Soul
A soul in certain spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions is the incorporeal essence of a person or living thing or object. Many philosophical and spiritual systems teach that humans have souls, and others teach that all living things and even inanimate objects have souls. The...
) of the last vestiges of the gross body so as to make it subtle enough to make it possible for it to enter the Region of the Dead.
It can also be taken to mean that if one lives a sinful material life on earth, then one is subjected to the constant cycles of rebirth after death. Therefore when a man dies, the soul has to cross a river filled with blood, bones and tissues( symbolic of a mother's womb)in order to be born again. But if the man lived the riteous path then he does not have to cross the river meaning he can escape the cycle of rebirth, escaping also the pain and suffering.
Mentions in scriptures
- "One should next proceed to the Vaitarani capable of destroying every sin."
— Mahabharat, Book 3: Vana Parva: Tirta Yatra Parva: Section LXXXV. - "O king, by creatures of sinful acts, and the miseries endured by those that fall into the river Vaitarani in the realms of Yama, and the inauspicious wanderings of creatures through diverse wombs, and the character of their residence in the unholy uterus in the midst of blood and water and phlegm and urine and faeces, all of foul smell, and then in bodies that result from the union of blood and the vital seed, of marrow and sinews, ..."
— BhishmaBhishmaBhishma or Bheeshma or Devavrata or 'Bhishma Pitamah' was the eighth son of Kuru King Shantanu who was blessed with wish-long life and had sworn to serve the ruling Kuru king. He was one of the most prominent characters of the great Indian epic, the Mahabharata. He was the grand uncle of both the...
. Mahabharat, Shanti Parva: Part III. Section CCCII. - "..The torrent of blood excited fear amongst those who came to see it, as the river Vaitarani on the way to hell (the Lord of Death) is very fearful to the sinners.
— Devi Bhagawatam, The Third Book, Chapter XV, On the battle between Yudhajit and Virasena.