the domestic mode of life in accordance with the Sila vow. The
latter welcomed his guest with due rites. Received with such hospitality,
the happy Rishi passed the night happily in the house of his host. The
next morning the Brahmana in the observance of the Sila vow, having
finished all his morning acts and rites and purified himself duly, very
cheerfully approached his guest crowned with ascetic success. Meeting
with each other and seated at their ease, the two began to converse on
agreeable subjects connected with the Vedas and the Upanishads. Towards
the conclusion of the discourse, the Brahmana in the observance of the
Sila vow respectfully addressed the Rishi crowned with success. Endued
with intelligence, he put this very question which thou, O Yudhisthira,
hast put to me.

"'"The poor Brahmana said, 'What countries, what provinces, what retreats,
what mountains, and what rivers should be regarded as the foremost in
point of sanctity? Do thou discourse to me on this.'

"'"The Rishi crowned with success said, 'Those countries, those provinces,
those retreats, and those mountains, should be regarded as the foremost
in point of sanctity through which or by the side of which that foremost
of all rivers, viz., Bhagirathi flows. That end which a creature is
capable of attaining by penances, by Brahmacharyya, by sacrifices, or by
practising renunciation, one is sure to attain by only living by the side
of the Bhagirathi and bathing in its sacred waters. Those creatures whose
bodies have been sprinkled with the sacred waters of Bhagirathi or whose
bones have been laid in the channel of that sacred stream, have not to
fall away from heaven at any time.[237] Those men, O learned Brahmana,
who use the waters of Bhagirathi in all their acts, surely ascend to
heaven after departing from this world. Even those men who, having
committed diverse kinds of sinful deeds in the first part of their lives,
betake themselves in after years to a residing by the side of Ganga,
succeed in attaining to a very superior end. Hundreds of sacrifices
cannot produce that merit which men of restrained souls are capable of
acquiring by bathing in the sacred waters of Ganga. A person is treated
with respect and worshipped in heaven for as long a period as his bones
lie in the channel of the Ganga. Even as the Sun, when he rises at the
dawn of day, blazes forth in splendour, having dispelled the gloom of
night, after the same manner the person that