The River from Śiva's Hair

So Gautama went from Brahmagiri to Kailāsa, where Śiva lives with his beloved. There he restrained his speech, spread kuśa grass, purified himself, sat down and sang a hymn to Śiva, and flowers fell from the sky as he praised him.

Śiva came before him, pleased, and said: What shall I give you, Gautama, for your devotion and your hymn and your vows? I am well pleased. Ask for something hard even for the gods. Gautama, weeping for joy, said: Give me the holy Gaṅgā who is in your hair. You have asked for the good of the three worlds, said Śiva; now ask something for yourself, without fear. Let those who praise you and the goddess Umā with this hymn have all their wishes, said Gautama.

So be it, said Śiva. Ask other boons too. Then Gautama said: Release this goddess who is in your hair, your beloved, the purifier of the world, on Brahmā's mountain. Let her be a holy place wherever she flows until she reaches the sea. Let all sins of mind and speech and body be washed away by bathing in her. Let the merit of all other holy places be had by remembering her. Wherever she flows to the sea, be present there yourself. On one side are all the holy places of heaven and earth and the underworld; this river is greater than them all.

So be it, said Śiva. There never was and never will be a holier place than this. Truly, truly, the Gautamī is the holiest of all. And he vanished. Then Gautama, full of strength by Śiva's command, took up that lock of hair with the best of rivers, and, surrounded by the gods, went back to Brahmagiri, while the sages and brahmins and kṣatriyas, the warriors and kings, honoured him with shouts of victory.