Skandapurana 3.2.41.11

3.2.41.11

10 atha brahmaṇā kāmadhenave viprebhyo'nucarapradānārthaṃ svābhiprāyanivedanam, brahmoktiṃ śrutvā kāmadhenvā nijakṣīradhārayā dharollekhane kṛte sati tataḥ śikhāsūtradhāriṣaṭtriṃśatsahasrasaṃkhyākavaṇijāmutpattiḥ, tataḥ sarvadevānuśiṣṭena brahmaṇā teṣāmaṣṭādaśasahasrabrāhma-ṇānāṃ pratibrāhmaṇamanucaradvayapradānapūrvakaṃ tattadbrāhmaṇānusāreṇa tattadbāhmaṇānucarāṇāṃ teṣāṃteṣāṃ vaṇijāṃ gotrapravarādivyavasthākaraṇam, tadanantaraṃ sarvadevaiḥ kāmadhenoḥ stuti-karaṇam, atha teṣāṃ gobhujānāṃ vaṇijāṃ parigrahārthaṃ rudreṇa viśvāvasugandharvato gandharva-
kanyā ānīya tābhiḥ saha gobhujānāṃ dārasaṃgrahakaraṇam, tataḥprabhṛti gāndharva-
vivāhaprathāpravṛttiḥ, ṣaṭtriśatsahasrāṇāṃ teṣāṃ gobhujavaṇijāṃ putrapautrādyasaṃkhyātasaṃ-
tatibhiḥ saha dharmāraṇye nivāsapūrvakaṃ brāhmaṇasevāśuśrūṣādikarmakaraṇavarṇanam... 124 1

10. Now, Brahmā stated to Kāmadhenu his intention to provide attendants for the vipras; hearing Brahmā's words, Kāmadhenu furrowed the earth with a stream of her milk, whereupon thirty-six thousand merchants bearing crest-locks and sacred threads were born; then Brahmā, instructed by all the gods, provided two attendants for each individual brahmin among those eighteen thousand brahmins and established the gotras, pravaras, and other details of those respective merchants in accordance with their respective brahmins; thereafter, all the gods praised Kāmadhenu; now, to provide wives for those merchant Gobhujas, Rudra brought daughters of gandharvas from the gandharva Viśvāvasu and united the Gobhujas in marriage with them; from that time onwards, the custom of gandharva marriage was introduced; and an account is given of how those thirty-six thousand Gobhuja merchants, residing in Dharmāraṇya along with countless progeny consisting of sons, grandsons, and so forth, engaged in service, attendance, and duties for the brahmins. (124 1)