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Saptapuri, the Seven Cities of Enlightenment:
Part I: The Separation of Agastya Muni from Kashi
In the course of my research on Kashi: The Valiant History of a Sacred Geography, I came across the concept of the Saptapuri, the Seven Sacred Cities capable of bestowing mukti, according to Hindu Dharma. Kashi is, of course, one of them. The others are: Ayodhya, Mathura, Dwaraka, Hardware, Kanchi, and Ujjain.
The Kashi Khanda of the Skanda Purana beautifully illustrates the significance of the Saptapuri through the story of the journey of Shivasharman.
The story starts, as many Puranic tales do, with the instigation of an incident by Narada Muni. Once, during his travels, Narada Muni came across Vindhya Mountain. After an exchange of words, Vindhya Mountain gave voice to his insecurities and feelings of jealousy of other holy mountains, which he felt were more renowned than he was. After Narada Muni left him, Vindhya became determined to be acknowledged as the greatest of all mountains. He forcibly increased his size until he obstructed the path of the sun.
This led to a disruption in the cycle of yajna (sacrifice), distressing the Devas. Brahma advised the Devas to seek out Agastya Muni, then residing in Kashi, for help. The Devas delighted in spending some time in Kashi and then presented their predicament to the sage, who was immersed in devotion to the Vishveshvara form of Shiva at his ashram.
Agastya Muni was distraught at the prospect of having to leave his beloved Kashi to resolve matters with Vindhya Mountain. Nevertheless, leave he did. Such is the compassion of Rishis, to put the needs of others above their own desires — this is how Agastya Muni explained his decision to leave:
I am not going away from this place for my own sake. It is because I have been requested by the Gods that I am doing this. What all is not done for helping others? Did Dadhichi not give his bones?
Did Bali not give the three worlds to Vamana? Did Madhu and Kaitabha not offer their heads to Vishnu? Garuda himself at the request…