SOUTHERN DISTRICTS OF MABAYARAJYA. 
1B1 
1899.] 
TIrtha of 
Ardhanarlsvara. 
From Bid a r we may pay a passing visit to a small Tirtha which 
though I cannot find it mentioned in any old 
text, may yet claim some antiquity. About 
miles to the south-east of Bid a r lies the village 
of Naru in the low hills flanking the valley. It contains a small temple 
of ancient date which was restored forty years ago by a pious Dogra 
official. It stands by the side of a small Naga at which, according to 
the local Mahatmya I acquired from the resident Purohita, Siva is 
worshipped as Ardhanauisvara, that is, in conjunction with his consort 
Parvati. Inside the temple is an ancient image of Visnu with a short 
Sanskrit inscription said to have been found in a miraculous way at 
the restoration of the temple. About half a mile to the south-west is 
a sacred spring known as Svedanaga which seems to have risen origi¬ 
nally within a large temple. The remains of the latter lie in shapeless 
heaps around the spring. The latter is still visited by pilgrims. 
It appears to me likely that it is this spot which Abu-1-Fazl wishes 
to describe in the following notice. After mentioning the Kuk a r Nag 
and Sundshrar (see below) among the sacred places of Bring, he says: 
“ At a little distance in the midst of a beautiful temple, seven fountains 
excite the wonderment of the beholder. In the summer-time self- 
immolating ascetics here heap up a large fire around themselves and with 
the utmost fortitude suffer themselves to be burned to death.” 1 He 
then mentions a lofty hill containing an iron mine to the north of this 
spot. This can only be the hill above Sop, on the northern side of 
the Valley and nearly opposite Naru, from which iron is still extracted 
at the present time. There is no other Naga within Bring to which 
Abu-l-Fazl’s description would apply so closely as to the Svedanaga. 
The Kuk a r Nag , mentioned by Abu-1-Fazl for its good water incit¬ 
ing a healthy appetite, lies about a mile above Bid a r. It is a spring 
of very great volume, referred to in the Trisamdhyamahatmya as 
Kukkutesvara. 
Bring contains one of the holiest of Kasmir Tirthas in the sacred 
spring of the goddess Samdhya, also called 
Trisamdhya, the modern Sundvbrar . 2 It is 
situated in a side valley opening to the south of the village of Deval- 
gom, circ. 75° 22' long. 33° 32' lat. The spring of Samdhya derives 
its fame as well as its appellation from the fact that during uncertain 
periods in the early summer it flows, or is supposed to flow, intermittent¬ 
ly, three times in the day and three times in the night. Owing to the 
analogy thus presented to the three-fold recitation of the Gayatri 
l See Am-i-Akb., ii. p. 356. 
3 See Rdjcit. i. 33 note. 
Tirtha of Trisamdhya. 
