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 Ganga is purified; while he that beholdeth her, receiveth prosperity; while he that bathes in her and drinks of her waters sanctifieth seven generations of his race up and down.  As long, O king, as one’s bones lie in contact with the waters of the Ganga, so long doth he live regarded in heaven, even as one liveth in heaven in consequence of the merit he earneth by pious pilgrimages to sacred tirthas and holy spots.  There is no tirtha that is like unto the Ganga, there is no god like unto Kesava, and there is none superior to Brahmanas,—­this hath been said even by the Grandsire.  O great king, the region through which the Ganga flows should be regarded as a sacred asylum, and a spot of land that is on the Ganga’s banks, should be regarded as one favourable to the attainment of ascetic success.

This truthful description (of the tirthas) one should recite only unto the regenerate ones, unto those that are pious, unto one’s son and friends and disciples and dependents.  This narrative, without a rival, is blessed and holy and leadeth to heaven.  Holy and entertaining and sanctifying, it is productive of merit and high worth.  Destructive of every sin, it is a mystery that the great Rishis cherish