Gadayuddha Parva — The origin of the name of Kapalamochana

Vaishampayana said Having passed one night there, Rama, having the plough for his weapon, adored the dwellers of that tirtha and showed great respect for Mankanaka.

Having distributed wealth amongst the Brahmanas and passed the night there the hero, having the plough for his weapon, was adored by the ascetics. Rising up in the morning, he took leave of all the ascetics and having touched the sacred water, O Bharata, started quickly for other tirthas.

Baladeva then went to the tirtha known by the name of Ushanas. It is also called Kapalamochana. Formerly, Rama (the son of Dasharatha) slew a Rakshasa and threw his head to a great distance. That head, O king, fell upon the thigh of a great sage named Mahodara and struck to it. Bathing in this tirtha, the great Rishi was freed from that burthen. The great (Shukra) had practised his ascetic penances there.

It was there that the science of politics and morals, .that passes by Shukra's name, was revealed to him. While living there. Shukra meditated upon the war of the Daityas and the Danavas.

Arrived at that foremost of tirthas Baladeva, O king, duly made presents of the great Brahmanas.

Janamejaya said Why is it called Kapalamochana, where the great Muni became freed (from the Rakshasa's head)? Why and how did that head stick to his thigh?"

Vaishampayana said "Formerly, O foremost of king, the great Rama (the son of Dasharatha) lived for sometime in the forest of Dandaka, for killing the Rakshasas.

At Janasthana he sundered the head of a wicked Rakshasa with highly sharp razorheaded arrow. That head dropped in the deep forest.

That head, coursing at will through the sky, fell upon the thigh of Mahodara while the latter was walking in the woods. Piercing his thigh, O king, it stuck to it and remained there.

That head thus sticking to his thigh, the greatly wise Brahmana could not (with ease), proceed to tirthas and other sacred places.

Feeling great pain and with putrid matter flowing from his thigh, he travelled to all the tirthas of the earth, one after another, as heard by us.

He went to all the rivers and to the ocean as well. The great ascetic spoke of his pain to many Rishis of pure souls, about his having bathed in all the sacred spots without finding any relief. That best of Brahmanas then heard from those sages, about this foremost of tirthas situate on the Sarasvati, known by the name of Ushanasha, which could cleanse every sin and was an excellent place for acquiring ascetic merits.

Then repairing to that Ushanasa tirtha, that Brahmana bathed in its waters. Thereat the Rakshasa's head, leaving the thigh, dropped into the water.

Freed from that head, the Rishi felt great ease. The head however was lost in the waters.

Then, O king, freed from the Rakshasa's head Mahodara gladly returned, with purified soul and all his sins cleansed, to his hermitage after attaining success.

Thus freed, after returning to his sacred hermitage the great ascetic, spoke of what had taken place to those Rishis of pure souls.

Having heard his story, those Rishis conferred the name of Kapalamochana on the tirtha.

Repairing once more to that foremost of tirthas, the great Rishi Mahodara, drank its water and acquired great ascetic success.

Having distributed much wealth amongst the Brahmanas and worshipped them, Baladeva then went to the hermitage of Rushangu.

There, O Bharata, Arshtishena had in days of yore practised austerest of penances. There the great (Kshatriya) Muni Muni Vishvamitra became a Brahmana.

That great hermitage is capable of fructifying every wish. It always, O lord, the asylum of ascetics and Brahmanas.

Surrounded by Brahmanas, then the beautiful Baladeva went to that spot, O king, where Rushangu had, formerly, renounced his body.

Rushangu, O Bharata, was an old Brahmana always devoted to penances. Determined to renounce his body, he thought for a long while.

A great ascetic as he was, he then summoned all his sons and asked them to take him to a spot where there was profuse water.

Knowing their father had become very old, those ascetics took him to a tirtha on the Sarasvati.

Brought by his sons to the sacred Sarasvati containing hundreds of tirthas and on whose banks lived Rishis disassociated from the world, that intelligent ascetic, of hard penances, bathed in that tirtha duly and conversant as that best of Rishis was with the virtues of tirthas, then cheerfully said to all his sons who were dutifully waiting upon him these words.

He, that would renounce his body on the northern bank of the Sarasvati containing profuse water, reciting mentally sacred mantras, would never again he visited by death.'

Touching the water of that tirtha and bathing in it, the righteous Baladeva distributed wealth amongst the Brahmanas.

Possessed of great might and great prowess, Baladeva then proceeded to that tirtha where the worshipful Brahma had created the mountains called Lokaloka and where that best of Rishis, Arshtishena, of rigid vows, had by hard penances acquired the dignity of Brahmana-hood and where the royal saint Sindhudvipa and the great ascetic Devapi and the worshipful and illustrious Vishvamitra of hard penances and fierce energy, had all acquired a similar dignity.