forms of the Creator. There in those places, O
foremost of warriors, the Vedas and the Sacrifices, in embodied forms,
and the Rishis endued with wealth of asceticism, adore Brahma, and there
the gods and rulers of territories also celebrate their sacrifices. The
learned, however, say that of all these _tirthas_, O exalted one,
Prayaga is the most sacred, in fact, the foremost of all _tirthas_ in
the three worlds. By going to that _tirtha_, by singing its praises, or
by taking a little earth from it, one is cleansed from every sin. He
that bathes in that confluence celebrated over the world, acquires all
the merits of the Rajasuya and the horse-sacrifices. This sacrificial
place is worshipped by the gods themselves. If a man giveth there ever
so little, it increaseth, O Bharata, a thousandfold. O child, let not
the texts of the Veda, nor the opinions of men dissuade thy mind from
the desire of dying at Prayaga. O son of the Kuru race, the wise say
that six hundred million and ten thousand _tirthas_ exist at Prayaga.
Bathing in the confluence of Ganga and Yamuna, one obtains the merit
that attaches to the four kinds of knowledge and the merits also of
those that are truthful. There at Prayaga is the excellent _tirtha_ of
_Vasuki_ called _Bhogavati_. He that batheth in it, obtaineth the merit
of the horse-sacrifice. There also in the Ganga is the _tirtha_ famed
over the three worlds, called _Ramaprapatana_, which conferreth the
merit of ten horse-sacrifices, O son of the Kuru race! Wherever may a
person bathe in the Ganga, he earneth merit equal to that of a trip to
Kurukshetra. An exception, however, is made in favour of _Kanakhala_,
while the merit attaching to _Prayaga_ is the greatest. Having committed
a hundred sins, he that bathes in the Ganga, hath all his sins washed
off by the waters thereof, even as fuel is consumed by fire. It hath
been said that in the _Satyayuga_ all the _tirthas_ were sacred; in the
_Treta_, Pushkara alone was such; in _Dwapara_, Kurukshetra; and in the
_Kali-yuga_, the Ganga alone is sacred. In Pushkara, one should practise
austerities; in Mahalaya, one should give away; in the Malaya mountains,
one should ascend the funeral pyre; and in Bhrigutunga, one should
renounce one's body by forgoing food. Bathing in Pushkara, in
Kurukshetra, in the Ganga and in the confluence (of the Ganga and the
Yamuna), one sanctifieth seven generations of one's race up and down. He
that reciteth the name of the G