Shadipora Sangam The Prayag Teertha of Kashmir/Prayag Shiv Mandir
River Vitasta of Kashmir finds mention in Rigveda , Kathasaritsagara, Natyashastra, Varahpurana and Mahabharata . In Mahabharata we read this :-
“If anybody bathes in the waves of the river Vitasta, with vow and fasts, for seven days he would become as pure as a hermit.”
(Mahabharata Anusasana Parva, Chapter 25, Stanza 7)
The Vitasta Mahatmayas inform that Goddess Uma, Laxmi, Aditi, Sachi, Diti and Ganga along with their spouses had come to Satisar to witness the draining out of the water and killing of the demon Jalodbhava . Rishi Kashyapa had also requested them to bless the land. The Rishi approached Goddess Uma or Parvati first who in turn sought the concurrence of Lord Shiva. In Vitasta Mahatmayas, we read this:-
” Parvati requested her consort Lord Shiva; “O, father of the World, I shall assume the form of a river but make a stroke with your spear near the abode of Nila, where O Lord while breaking the mountain was placed the pointed end of the plough. By that stroke, I shall flow to meet the great river, Sindhu.”
The Nilamata Purana describes the sacredness of the Vitasta River as under :-
” O chief of the kings, those men obtain fame on the earth, who go to the goddess Vitasta, endowed with various bridges, decorated with blue and red lotuses, filled with the sounds of the herds of the cows, resounding with the bellowing-sounds, full of fish and tortoises, possessed of good bathing places, giver of the desired objects, possessed of the water which tastes like nectar, charming to the eyes of men and boon-giver like a mother.”
In ancient and mediaeval Kashmir, Vitasta River was accordingly treated as sacred as Ganga. In the Kotitirtha Mahatmayas of Kashmir, we read this:-
“Here in Kashmir exists Sati ( Goddess Parvati ) herself personified as river Vitasta, who destroys all sins and by merely thinking about whom, one gets the same reward as is received by bathing in holy places of worship. The water of river Saraswati takes three days to purify a man, that of Yamuna takes seven while the water of Ganga purifies a person instantly, but the water of Vitasta has the power to purify even by a mere thought of it.”
