A Merchant and the Brahmin's Gold

in Ayodhya, O wide-eyed one, he lived in heaven, a home that does not run out. He enjoyed its lovely fruit for fifteen yugas (ages).

Then his good deeds ran out, O queen of the gods, and he came to the world of mortals. He was born as a man in a great and honoured family.

He is rich in money and grain and devoted to the worship of Vishnu. In the past he took the brahmin's gold and did not give it back.

So, O lovely one, no son is born to him. Now and then great pain comes in the body.

His birth was in the first quarter of Uttara Phalguni, O Goddess, and he has no sons or daughters.

Hear the good deeds that calm this sin, O lovely one. Let him, with full attention, have the Harivamsha (a sacred book about Krishna) heard once.

Let him do good works with one sixth of his house and wealth. Let him also do japa (repeating a mantra) a hundred thousand (ten times ten thousand) times. He uses the Gayatri (a sacred Vedic chant) root mantra (sacred words).

Then a homa (fire offering) with one tenth of that count. Then tarpana (water offering to the ancestors and gods) and marjana (sprinkling). A dashavarna (a gift of ten colours) is to be given, with gold and with clothes.

Then, O Goddess, let him give land to a learned brahmin, dear one. Let him keep a vrata (vow of fasting and worship) of the Sun with his wife, O lovely one.

A pumpkin and a coconut, set with five jewels, are to be given in the middle of the Ganga. Then gold is given as the fee.

With care and a calm mind, let him give the gift of a bed. When this is done, without doubt every disease is destroyed.

The man with no son gets a son. The kakavandhya (a woman who has only one child) gets a son. The mritavatsa (one whose children die young) bears a son, the best, who lives long.