Thread by @meemainseen

Legend of Vitāsta
Ever poetic Rājataranginī
A Saint who composed Saiful Mulūk
___
In Mandala 10 of Rig Veda Hymn 75 called Nadi Stuti, 9 couplets sing to the glory of our rivers
This immersive poetry gives goosebumps to a present day reader of Vedic Hymns
meemainseen.com/2019/12/rivers/

Verse 5

इमं मे गङगे यमुने सरस्वति शुतुद्रि सतेमं सचता परुष्ण्या |
असिक्न्या मरुद्व्र्धे वितस्तयार्जीकीये शर्णुह्यासुषोमया ||

imaṃ me ghaṅghe yamune sarasvati śutudri stemaṃ sacatā paruṣṇyā |
asiknyā marudvṛdhe vitastayārjīkīye śṛṇuhyāsuṣomayā ||

Through this verse I praise you, O Ganga, Yamuna, O Sutudri, Parusni and Sarasvati
With Asikni, Vitasta, O Marudvrdha, O Arjikiya with Susoma hear my call

moving on from this couplet of typical interest, dear reader, we shall, through this thread talk a bit more about Vitāsta

Vitāsti is an ancient unit of measure, so Vitāsta in all likelihood referred to a vast floodplain
Our beloved writer and traveler @odysseuslahori infers that our singers of Vedic hymns must have first come across this river during summer floods

then there's another ancient tale

Kashmiri Pandits celebrate Veth Truvaha, a birthday festival of their sacred river Veth (Vitāsta)
Nilamata Purana, an ancient text brings to us this story
Once upon a time, vale of Kashmir was all a beautiful lake in the heart of mountains
It was called 'Satisar' Lake of Sati

There was a giant, a demon dwelling in the lake waters, Jal Dev (or Jaladbhu) who would come out to kill and plunder around Satisar
He had a boon from Bharma, no one could kill him under water
But then no one in Satisar was strong enough to even challenge Jal Dev on the land

During Dwapar Yug, the times of Bharma's grandson, a rishi named Kashyap came to the banks of Satisar
The good sage then to rid the people of the atrocities of Jal Dev prayed, and prayed more
Moved by his prayers Lord Shiva ordered Bharma & Bishan to join Kashyap and kill Jal Dev

Bishan then using a ploughshare cut a piece of mountain causing it to fall off and block the flow of waters into Satisar
This spot where the mountain fell is today's Baramula, so they say
This caused Satisar to dry out and Jal Dev was crushed to death in pit where he was hiding

A Muslim version of the story places Prophet Suleman as in charge of the affairs, who upon hearing the plight of good people of Satisar appointed one Kashyap Dev to kill Jal Dev
Kashyap (Rishi or Dev) then inhabited the land on dry bed of Satisar that was named Kashmir after him

Jal Dev was gone and with him the waters of Satisar
The now dry vale of Kashmir needed water for its inhabitants to live
Our sage Kshyap prayed to Lord Shiva for a river with waters so clean that these were immune from any water demon
Shiva then looked to his wife Parvati

Parvati then took shape of waters somewhere in the depths of lands
Shiva struck the ground with his Trishul and Parvati came gushing out, a stream of pure waters to cleanse the land of Kashmir

The measure of this crack, the initial river-span was the distance between three prongs of Shiva's trishul, one Vitāsti, and the river was named Vitāsta

Centuries later Pandit Kalhana in his celebrated poetic venture on Kashmir history relied in part on Nilamata Purana

A 12th century poetic narrative in Sanskrit, Rājataranginī by Pandit Kalhana chronicles history of Kashmir
This magnum opus has more or less 8000 verses
Rajatarangani is more than history
It sings poetic hymns on the beauty of Kashmir
and its river of icy cold waters, the Vitāsta

Selective lines from Book 3:

360. Where else on earth can one find streams meeting, pure & lovely, at pleasure-residences near market streets?

361. Where else do the inhabitants on hot summer day find before their houses water like that of Vitāsta cooled by large lumps of snow?

Our river of wide span, cooled by lumps of snow, the Vitāsta had a transition of names
Greeks called it Hydaspes, in Al Beruni's chronicles it's Biyatta and Babur in Baburnama names it as Behat

Tabqat e Nasiri of Minhajuddin Siraj calls it Jhelum, a name carried to date

Now our beloved Vitāsta, the river Jhelum from Kashmir when nears Mangla, just where it's contained by Mangla Dam outskirts Mirpur and with it a little hamlet of Khari Sharif
Somewhere here once dwelt a saint of prominence, Mian Muhammad Bakhsh

Here beside the ghats of Jhelum, was composed another poetic masterpiece, a magnum opus

جہلم گھاٹوں پربت پاسے، میر پورے دی دکھن
کھڑی ملک وچ لوڑن جیہڑے، طلب بندے دی رکھن

ਜੇਹਲਮ ਘਾਟੋਂ ਪਰਬਤ ਪਾਸੇ, ਮੀਰਪੁਰੇ ਦੀ ਦੱਖਣ
ਖੜੀ ਮੁਲਕ ਵਿਚ ਲੋੜਨ ਜੇਹੜੇ, ਤਲਬ ਬੰਦੇ ਦੀ ਰੱਖਣ

"From ghats of Jhelum, towards mountains, little south of Mirpur there's this country Khari (Sharif)
It's here they go out seeking, and have this urge to seek more"

an epic tale of love
Saiful Mulūk & Badi ul Jamal titled by its creator 'Safar ul Ishq'

Dear Reader, #StayTuned

@threadreaderapp unroll