Garudapurana 1.132

The glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa, chapter 132.
Brahmā said:
Eating only at night until the eighth day, and giving a cow at the end of the year,
one goes to the realm of Indra; this is declared as the observance of good destination!

On the bright eighth day in the month of Pauṣa, [saying] "O Mahārudra!"—truly well-done!
Done for my pleasure, O goddess, the fruit is a hundred-thousandfold.

When an eighth day falls on a Wednesday in either of the two fortnights,
then the narrative of this observance [to be performed] on it is supreme.

Those who observe vows on that day shall not have their prosperity diminished.
Taking eight handfuls of rice, leaving two fingers [of space],

a man desiring liberation, who eats that cooked rice with true devotion and faith,
placing it in a bowl made of mango leaves wrapped with kuśa grass,

accompanied by kalambikā and tamarind, obtains his desired fruit.
Having worshipped Mercury with fivefold offerings at a body of water,

According to one's capacity, one should give a priestly gift of a small pitcher filled with rice grains. / The seed-syllable should be 'buṃ budhāya', ending with 'svāhā', [accompanied by offering] a lotus and other items.

On the petals and in the center of the limbs, [one should worship Budha who is] dark-complexioned, holding an arrow and a bow. / The holy narrative of Budhāṣṭamī must definitely be heard by the virtuous.

In the city named Pāṭaliputra, there was an excellent twice-born named Vīra. / He had a wife named Rambhā, and an excellent son, Kauśika.

There was a daughter named Vijayā, and an ox named Dhanapāla. / Taking him in the summer, Kauśika went to the Gaṅgā and disported himself.

While he was engaged in play, the ox was carried off by force by cowherds who were thieves. / Rising from the Gaṅgā, he wandered into the forest, grief-stricken.

Vijayā went for water, and she also went together with her mother. / Thirsty and seeking lotus fibers, he then came to a lake.

Seeing celestial women engaged in worship and the like, he was amazed. / Going to them, he begged for food: "Together with my younger sister, I am hungry."

The women said: "Perform the religious observance! We will give [it], so perform the observance." / For the sake of a wife and for Dhanapāla, they both worshipped Budha.

Taking two leaf-bowls of food, they ate what was given. / When the women departed, those two givers of wealth saw Dhanapāla.

Taking what was returned by the thieves, he reached home in the evening. / Having bowed to the grieving Vīra, he slept happily at night.

Seeing that the maiden had grown into a young woman, [the father thought,] "To whom should my daughter be given?" / Out of sorrow, he said, "To Yama!" Through her righteous conduct and the good fruit of the religious observance,

the two parents went to heaven. Kauśika performed the religious observance for kingship / and ruled the great kingdom of Ayodhyā, having given his sister to Yama.

Yama also said to Vijayā: "Be the mistress of the house in my city. / Do not open [this door]." When Yama went elsewhere, she did not act thus. / She saw her own mother standing, suffering torture in nooses.

Then, agitated, knowing the religious observance that bestows liberation as taught by Kauśika, / she performed it, and thereupon her mother was liberated; therefore, one should practice the religious observance.

By the power of the merit of the religious observance, having gone to heaven, she dwelled happily.

Thus ends the one hundred and thirty-second chapter, titled "Description of the Budhāṣṭamī Observance," in the Ācārakāṇḍa of the first section called Pūrvakhaṇḍa in the glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa.