Adhyaya 222

Adhyaya 222 is a composite tīrtha-māhātmya that moves through several sacred kṣetras. It opens with Kāśī’s liberating power, telling how a crow, a serpent, and a śiṃśapā tree are freed: faults from former births are washed away through a small but potent merit—help given in a rescue. The chapter declares that death in such holy regions grants exceptional post-mortem attainments. It then praises Gokarṇa, where dying bestows Śiva-like status, and Śiva-Kāñcī, where devotion to Śiva paradoxically culminates in Vaikuṇṭha. A longer exemplum recounts a Śiva-devotee brāhmaṇa whose afterlife is contested by Śiva’s gaṇas and Hari’s followers, until the dispute is resolved by the smiling concord of Śiva and Viṣṇu. The closing section sacralizes Indraprastha/Śakraprastha on the Yamunā (Kāliṇdī) through ritual bathing and annual circumambulation, and explains the origin of Bhīma-kuṇḍa, linked to Śiśupāla’s death and the Rājasūya setting.