Verses 1404-1453

1406. O king, all the good rivers and the fountains are sacred and all these mountains are also sacred.

1407. O lord of the earth, all the images erected by the sages, and all the great lakes (are holy) everywhere but specially so in Kasmira.

1408. Holy are all the confluences and the pools of the Nagas. One surely obtains the merit of the gift of hundred Suvarnas (by bathing in them).

1409. Holy are these sacred places and specially so is the Vitasta. O king, the goddess Vitasta is stated to be purifying everywhere.

1410. Even those men who are sinners go to heaven by bathing in that. O lord of men, one gets the merit of (performing) Vahnistoma by bathing in that.

1411-1413. One, with one's forehead anointed with goraja, is freed from all sins, by seeing (the river Vitasta) and by bathing in the Vitasta on the bright thirteenth, at the places where the Vitasta is holy always but is specially so on the bright thirteenth of a month. (The places are) the hermitage Vitastakhya, Dhaumyesa, the confluence of (the Vitasta and) the Sindhu, and Varahatirtha which destroys the sins and gives (the merit of performing ) Rajasuya.

1414. A man who has committed any invisible sin except the five (great sins), removes (that sin) away by one bath in the cold water.

1415. O king, a man gets his desired objects if he takes bath there, before sun-rise, for the whole winter.

1416-1417. One attains heaven so long as there are the fourteen Indras, by bathing properly, worshipping the fire in the right procedwe and then offering boiled rice and pulses mixed with purified butter to the Brahmanas.

1418. O lord of men, a person who takes bath daily thus for the whole year will obtain the means of getting salvation and then will obtain salvation.

1419. I have narrated to you, all the sayings of Nila and the merit of all the sacred places of Kasmira. I am going. May you be happy.

1420. Whatever has been narrated by me to you, should be remembered with effort. By listening to this, a man obtains the merit of the gift of ten cows."

1421. Vaisarnpayana said: "Having spoken thus to the king Gonanda, the pious-minded Brhadagva took his desired route for holy pilgrimage.

1422. The militant Gonanda also thought highly himself and ruled over the earth, in accordance with the instructions of the Sastras.

1423. Janamejaya (said): "O best among the twice- borns, tell me again the glorification of the Vitasta. I shall go after being free from sins by listening to that.

1424. Vaisampayana (said) ;"O king, it was beautiful Sati, the daughter of Daksa and the beloved wife of Hara, who was called Uma in Vaivasvata Antara.

1425. The same daughter of the Himadri was the sin- destroying Yamuna and the same was spoken of as the greatest boat in the three worlds, at the end of Manvantara.

1426. The (same) goddess is called Kasmira and the same is the river Vitasta. The river goddess arose from the Nether world, by means of the stroke of the spear.

1427. On account of the destruction of all sins after bathing in the water of the Vitasta, one by one's own self knows oneself to be possessed of the quality of lightness.

1428-29. O lord of men, the Ganga does not excel the Vitasta. The on]y thing which the water of the Ganga has more than that of the Vitasta, is the heap of the bones of men. Bath and other things are equal.

1430-31. O king, this Ganga was brought down formerly by the king Bhagiratha desirous of deluging the bones of the high-minded Sagaras, so she is stated to be famous in that act. The auspicious Vitasta is verily the holy river, remover of all sins.

1432. All those who died with the water of the Vitasta in their bellies, reached heaven like the soma-drinkers.

1433. The gods are satisfied not so much with the sacrifices accompanied by sacrificial fees as they are with those waters (of the Vitasta) .

1434. The Fathers are satisfied just as with various sorts of offerings of sweet food given to proper persons in proper time at holy place, so with those clean waters (of the Vitasta).

1435-36. The Nagas of various forms, the rivers, the holy places, the gods, the sages, the Gandharvas, the Yaksas and the Raksasas constantly approach her. The wise (man) should go to her to make his birth a success.

1437. Varuna knows the man who merely bathes in the Vitasta and how can he, who is known by the lord of the waters, fall in hell?

1438. The goddess Vitasta - destroyer of sins- gives protection with her hand, to the evil-doing sinners falling into hell.

1439-1441a. Those who will go to the Vitasta, the staircase for climbing up to heaven and the giver of the fulfilment of desires, shall go to Amaravati, by means of a sky- chariot containing the swans and the aquatic birds (Sarasa), decorated by the Cakravakas, having a colour like that of the sun, garlanded with a net-work of small bells, swarming with a host of heavenly maidens and resounding with the sounds of the Vina and the Muraja.

1441b-1444. O chief of the kings, those men obtain fame on the earth, who go to the goddess Vitasta, endowed with various bridges, decorated with blue and red lotuses, filled with the sounds of the herds of the cows, resounding with the bellowing-sounds, full of fish and tortoises, possessed of good bathing places, giver of the desired objects, possessed of the water which tastes like nectar, charming to the eyes of men and boon-giver like a mother.

1445. 0 king, pay obeisance to her, the purifying one praised by the high sages, passessed of tasty water, daughter of the Himalaya who is the king of the mountains, and the wife of Hara in the form of the sea.

1446-47. The Sindhu, the Trikoti, the Visoka, the holy and auspicious river Harsapatha, the holy Sukha, the Candravati, the Sugandha, the sin-destroying Punyodaka, the Kularani, the sin-removing Krsna, the holy Madhumati and the holy river Parosni go to the boon-giver and celestial Vitasta.

1448. O king, the river Ganga on the matted hair of Sambhu - torn forth by the god Moon and hence called Candrabhaga in the human world - comes to the sacred and extensive Vitasta.

1449. O king, the sacred places, the lakes, the rivers, the tanks, the various types of wells, all these come to the boon- giver Vitasta, on the bright thirteenth of Bhadrapada.

1450. Who can be able, O king, to describe to you the merits of the goddess even in several hundred years? Having heard a little which has been narrated by me with devotion, you should be always devoted (to her).

1451. Having listened to the glorification of the Vitasta, one is freed from all sins and having heard the whole of the Nilamata, one gets the merit of (the gift of) ten cows.

1452-53. Narrated thus to Janamejaya by Vyasa's pupil who had undertaken a great vow, this was not included in the Bharata lest that should become exhaustive with the inclusion of all the treatises. As it was not useful everywhere, so the high-souled venerable (Vyasa) did not include it in the most interesting though highly exhaustive Bharata - dear to the people like the full moon.

This is Vitasta mahatmya. This (treatise) named the Nilamata is complete.