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Kapalamocana: An Ancient Holy place [kapalamocanam鈥攅ka pracinam tirtham] / By Dr. V. Raghavan; Prof. & Head of the Sanskrit Deptt., Madras University / 169-170

In the last issue of the Purana (July, 1968), Sri Devendra Handa has presented the textual material, legend and religious significance, geographical location and the archaeological importance of the holy spot known as Kapala-mocana On the textual side, he has mentioned mainly the Vamana Purana and the Mahabharata, and to some extent also Garuda, Matsya and Brhannaradiya Purana which have some references to the place. I wish to supplement the article with some more data. Stein notices in his Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Raghunath Temple Library, Jammu (1894) several manuscripts of parts of a text called Bhrngisasamhita also called Srisamhita (pp. 210-11), describing the mahatmyas of several holy spots in Kasmir and its neighbourhood. Here, one of the manuscripts (no. 3882) deals with Kapalamocana. In Kalhana's Rajatarangini, VII. 266, there is mention of an one-eyed Damara, inimical to king, belonging to the place called Degrama. In his note on the identity of this Degrama, Stein says in his English translation that it is the modern hamlet of Degram, a few hundred yards to the north of "the well-known spring of Kapalamocana (marked as 'Nagbal' on the map). Stein has a paragraph on the Tirtha of Kapalamocana in his Ancient Geography of Kasmir' at the end of his translation of the Rajatarangini. He says here that the Tirtha marks "the spot where Siva cleaned himself from the sin attaching to him after the cutting-off of Brahman's head (Kapala). The tirtha is old because the Haracaritacintamani mentions it twice."

170 puranam - PURANA [Vol. XI., No. 1 In the last mentioned poetic account of Kashmirian shrines and sacred places, (Kavyamala 61), Jayaratha mentions Kapalamocana twice, in X. 249 and XIV. iii; in the former context, it is mentioned among holy places on the Vitasta in the chapter on Siva Vijayesvara whose shrine also Kalhana refers to often (I. 38 et. seq.). In the latter context, Kapalamocana is mentioned as being near Kapatesvara. Are there two holy places of the name Kapalamocana?