Varaha Purana 158.1: Adhyaya 158, Shloka 1
The Manifestation and Sanctifying Power of the Mathurā Tīrtha
Uttara Bhāga · Mathurā Tīrtha-prādurbhāva (Manifestation/Origin of the Mathurā Sacred Region)
अथ मथुरातीर्थप्रादुर्भावः ॥ श्रीवराह उवाच ॥ विंशतिर्योजनानां तु माथुरं मम मण्डलम् ॥ यत्रतत्र नरः स्नातो मुच्यते सर्वकिल्बिषैः ॥
atha mathurātīrthaprādurbhāvaḥ || śrīvarāha uvāca || viṃśatiryojanānāṃ tu māthuraṃ mama maṇḍalam || yatratatra naraḥ snāto mucyate sarvakilbiṣaiḥ
atha mathurAtIrthaprAdurbhAvaH || shrIvarAha uvAcha || viMshatiryojanAnAM tu mAthuraM mama maNDalam || yatratatra naraH snAto muchyate sarvakilbiShaiH
अब मथुरा तीर्थ के बारे में सुनो। वराह भगवान बोलते हैं। मथुरा मेरा इलाका है, बीस योजन तक फैला हुआ। जहाँ भी कोई इसमें नहाता है, वो सारे पाप से आज़ाद हो जाता है।
Sandhi Notes
- विंशतिर्योजनानां = विंशतिः + योजनानाम् (visarga before y → r)
- यत्रतत्र = यत्र + तत्र (correlative pair, written together)
Varāha
Curious (implied listener to tīrtha-prādurbhāva)
Implicit: what is the extent and salvific power of the Mathurā-maṇḍala and its bathing-rites?
Space becomes salvific when claimed and pervaded by the Lord; ritual acts there gain extraordinary potency.
Undertake tīrtha-snāna within the Mathurā circuit with faith, treating the whole region as a unified sacred field.
Varāha as the sacralizing presence: the deity’s ‘maṇḍala’ functions like a living yajña-kṣetra where contact (snāna) effects inner cleansing.
Maṇḍala as altar-field (vedi) and snāna as ablutional rite; ‘sarva-kilbiṣa’ removal parallels yajña’s pāpa-kṣaya function.
Tīrtha is efficacious because it is pervaded by Bhagavat; purification is ultimately by proximity to the divine (sannidhi) rather than mere water.
Bathing anywhere within the twenty-yojana Mathurā domain releases one from all faults/impurities (kilbiṣa).
Observance grants sarva-kilbiṣa-mokṣa (ritual/ethical purification); non-observance forfeits this easy expiation.
Strong foreshadowing: Mathurā as Viṣṇu’s own domain anticipates Kṛṣṇa’s līlā-bhūmi and later Vaiṣṇava tīrtha-network.
158.2 (seasonal residence intensifies merit); 158.3 (all tīrthas converge into Mathurā); 158.4 (vision of Varāha in Mathurā grants perpetual darśana)
FAQs
It frames Mathurā as a bounded sacred landscape (maṇḍala) with a stated extent, offering evidence for how Purāṇic texts conceptualize pilgrimage regions in quasi-geographical terms.
Mathurā is explicitly identified; it corresponds to the historic city of Mathura in present-day Uttar Pradesh, a major North Indian heritage center.
The verse promotes purification through disciplined engagement with place (bathing within a defined region), presenting moral renewal as tied to cultural landscape practices.
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