Agnitīrtha (Agnitirtha) is the name of a sacred place of pilgrimage in Prabhāsakṣetra (Prabhasakshetra). Skandapurāṇa (Skandapurana) talks about the legend of this place. It is recounted there that the kings of the Haihaya dynasty once fell out with the sages of Bhṛgu’s (Bhrigu)clan. The sons of the Haihaya king Kṛtavīrya (Kritavirya) went on to kill all the members of the Bhṛgu’s clan and did not even spare the fetuses in the wombs of their mothers. Around this time, the wife of a certain brāhmaṇa (brahmana) of Bhṛgu’s clan, in an effort to protect her yet to be born child, hid it in her thigh. When the time came, the child was born by splitting the thigh of this woman. As the child was born from within her thigh (uru), he was named Aurva. Aurva had become very angry with the kṣatriyas (kshatriya) even when he was within his mother’s womb. After his birth, he became intent on destroying the entire world by the might of his power. The gods were afraid at this and sought help from Prajāpati Brahmā (Prajapati Brahma). Brahmā requested Aurva to let go of his anger. On Brahmā ‘s advice, Aurva let go of his fire of anger. On Brahmā ‘s instruction, her daughter Sarasvatī (Saraswati) preserved the fire of Aurva’s anger in a vessel. In order to throw it into the waters of the sea Sarasvati assumed the form of a river and started flowing from the Himālaya (Himalaya) Mountains towards Prabhāsakṣetra. Prabhāsakhaṇḍa (the chapter on Prabhāsakṣetra) of Skandapurāṇa has an entire chapter which speaks about the course taken by Sarasvatī from Himālaya to the sea. Many sacred places of pilgrimage have come up along both sides of the course traced out by Sarasvatī as a river. The river Sarasvatī has finally merged with the sea at Prabhāsakṣetra. Purāṇas say that Sarasvatī had cast into the sea the vessel in which she had preserved Aurva’s fire of anger at this place. This is why the confluence of the river Sarasvatī with the sea has become famous by the name Agnitīrtha.