A tiirtha "Satii-deha" on the Mahaasaras lake?

[Christophe Vielle]

Dear colleagues,

I give here below an extract from the still unpublished
Dak.si.naavartanaatha (13th century?)'s Commentary (diipikaa) on
Kaalidaasa's Kumaarasambhava, canto 1 v. 20 (athaavamaanena pitu.h
prayuktaa daks.asya kanyaa bhavapuurvapatnii ! satii satii
yogavis.r.s.tadehaa taa.m janmane /sailavadhuu.m prapede !!) :

atheti ! avamaanena svabhartur harasya havirbhaagapradaanak.rtena prayuktaa
preritaa satii iti dak.sasutaatve naama satii bhavantii yogavis.r.s.tadehaa
bhavantii satii yoga.h kim api tiirtham anyad yadvyaakhyaana.m
puraa.naviruddham yathaa brahmaa.n.de -
"aya.m madiiyo deha/s ca sarvapaapak.saya.mkara.h !
tyakto mayaa mahaapu.nyas tiirthataa.m yaatu /saa/svata.h !!
evam uktvaa tu vacana.m satii yogena yaa.m (ms. : kaa.m) tanum !
namo dharmaaya ity uktvaa jahau toye sunirmale !!
satiideho yathaa tasmin mahaasarasi vidyate !
tadaa tad vi/sruta.m loke satiideha.m mahaasara.h !!"
iti !

The quotation from the Brahmaa.n.dapuraa.na, which cannot be traced in the
published "vaayuprokta" B.dP (Venkateshvara/Chowkhamba/Nag/Motilal same ed.
- the Satii myth is told there in 1,2.13.42-81 ‰ VaaP 30.38-73 ‰ BrP
34.7-45 ‰ "original" SkP 10.13-33), so refers to a tiirtha which would have
been called Satiideha, somewhere on the Mahaasaras. The latter (also given
as Mahatsaras) appears to be a sacred lake, referred to in MBh CE 12,
148.11 and 13,105.45 among other tiirthas such as Pu.skara, Prabhaasa, and
the Maanasa lake. That place could hardly be the same as Kanakhala (near
Haridvaara, in the Ga;ngaadvaara) given by the /SivaP as the place of
Saatii's death (cf. Annemarie Mertens, Der Dak.samythus in der
episch-puraa.nischen Literatur, Wiesbaden, 1998).
Does somebody know such a place called Satiideha or one text referring to
it?

Thank you very much for your comments

Dr. Christophe Vielle
Centre d'Etudes de l'Inde et de l'Asie du Sud
Institut orientaliste
Place Blaise Pascal 1
B - 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve
BELGIUM
Tel. +32-(0)10-47 49 54 (office)/ -(0)2-640 62 66 (home)
E-mail: vielle at ori.ucl.ac.be