Mudgalapurana 3.32: dhanakasya vratopadeśo nāma dvātriṃśo'dhyāyaḥ

Homage to the glorious Gaṇeśa!

Mudgala said: / Yadu also had four sons resembling gods; / Sahasrajit was his eldest son, indeed.

He had a son celebrated by the name Śatajit, who had three sons: / Haihaya, Haya, and Vapurhaya is declared.

Haihaya had a son well known as Dharma; / his [son] was Netra; his was Kunti; Sohañji is recorded as his son.

Sohañji had a son, the ruler of the earth named Mahiṣmant, / by which king the city of Māhiṣmatī was founded.

His son was Bhadrasena; Durmada is recorded as his son; / and another was the wise Dhanaka, who became the chief king there.

From Dhanaka were born four sons world-renowned: / Kṛtavīrya, Kṛtāgni, and next is remembered Kṛtavarman,

and likewise Kṛtaujas, O Dakṣa. Among them the eldest, majestic / and given to generosity, was King Kṛtavīrya.

By him on the earth, the other, dark-fortnight fourth [lunar day],

[khaṇḍa 3, adhyāya 32, page 71] which grants all auspicious things, O protector of creatures, was made known from heaven.

Dakṣa said: / How was that fourth [lunar day] brought to the circle of the earth / by that king, O great yogin? Tell of his deeds.

Hearing the nectar of the tale, O lord, joy increases in my heart; / therefore tell the story at great length.

Mudgala said: / Long ago in the great city of Māhiṣmatī there was [a man] named Bhīma, / an outcaste, greedy for wealth and devoted to sinful deeds.

Seeing people on the road, he would kill them day after day, / and he was a seller of meat, constantly slaughtering beasts.

Once, when the fourth [lunar day] belonging to the dark fortnight of the month of Māgha / had arrived, he wandered into the forest

in a region of great mountains, in order to slaughter men; / yet by the turn of fate he did not encounter anything at all.

Deprived of food and water, seized with greed, he wandered; / nothing was found there, and in such a state he roved on.

Then the sun set. Seeing that, he resolved / to return to his home and set out upon the road.

On the road, seeing twelve twice-born [brahmins] there, the villain / killed them, took their belongings, and went to his home.

Then, when moonrise occurred, he ate, troubled with hunger; / and at that time he called his son, whose name was Gaṇeśa.

Later on, in the same way, he once committed a terrible sin; / and on the fourth [lunar day] in the dark fortnight, at the rise of the moon, he died.

The messengers of Gaṇeśa arrived there to bring him; / mounting him on an aerial chariot, they brought him to Kailāsa, the abode of Gaṇapa.

Praised by the gods on the heavenly paths, by Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and others, / praised by those riding in aerial chariots, he entered the dwelling of Śiva.

Having enjoyed pleasures there, he fell to the surface of the earth; / in Māhiṣmatī he was born as the mighty son of Dhanaka,

renowned as Kṛtavīrya, devoted to various dharmas, / desirous of gods, brahmins, and guests, and a performer of sacrifices.

King Kṛtavīrya, though majestic, was sonless; / devoted to various dharmas, he strived exceedingly for the sake of a son.

The king did not obtain offspring; therefore, filled with sorrow, / he entrusted his kingdom, rid of all thorns, to his ministers,

and, together with his wife, the king went to the forest, engaged in austerity; / by virtue of his past impressions, he had love for Gaṇeśa.

He performed various austerities, yet even so, O lord of creatures, / the king did not obtain offspring, reduced to only eyes and life-breath.

Seeing him reduced to skin and bones, the sage Nārada / went to heaven and reported the king's state to Dhanaka:

“Your son stays in the forest striving for the sake of a son, O king; / engaged in various strivings, he is reduced to skin and bones.

The king has not obtained offspring; in a short time he will die. / O king, tell me: what destiny can there be for a man who is sonless?”

Having spoken thus to him, that lord of sages went to Kailāsa with reverence. / Then Dhanaka deliberated deeply in his mind:

“I shall go for refuge to Brahmā, who knows all; through him what is desired / will come to pass, no doubt.” Then he too went to the Creator.

Bowing low, he praised Prajāpati with various hymns of praise, / and, endowed with humility, spoke to that illustrious one.

Dhanaka said:

[khaṇḍa 3, adhyāya 32, page 72] “My son, though virtuous in dharma, has indeed become sonless; / devoted to various vows, O Brahmā, he strived for the sake of a son.

Renouncing his kingdom and everything, he stays in the forest performing austerity; / reduced by that austerity, he appears covered only in skin and bone.

By what means will a son be born [to him]? Tell me that; / I shall cause him to achieve it there, for the continuation of my lineage.”

Then the Four-faced One spoke these words to him: / “A vow joined with the murder of twice-born [brahmins] was performed in his previous life.”

The god Vidhi, skilled in all purposes, spoke to him again: / “Only for the sake of obtaining a son is there a single means that grants all perfections.

Unknowingly, he performed the vow that removes distress, / arising on the fourth [lunar day]; through that, all his sin dissolved.

Great sins are destroyed by performing the Saṅkaṣṭī vow. / Whatever is done on the day connected with the Saṅkaṣṭī vow,

remains precisely as inexhaustible; of this there is no doubt. / On the dark fourth [lunar day], O king, one should perform only merit.

By your son, O king of kings, twelve brahmins were slain / on the fourth [lunar day] in his previous life; that great sin remains.

Through the power of various austerities, vows, sacred places, and the like, / or through sacrifices and the like, that sin will not dissolve at all.

The sin that is committed on Saṅkaṣṭī is remembered as an adamantine plaster; / in that regard there is no remedy, yet listen to my words.

By whomsoever the meritorious Saṅkaṣṭikā Caturthī is observed, O king, / for him rebirth and the like will never occur again.

Know the entire world of illusory nature to be fourfold, / and likewise distress belongs to living beings; bound by it, they wander.

When the Saṅkaṣṭī Caturthī of the lord of the gaṇas is observed, / the fourfold misery will never befall him.

At the end, a man becomes one with Brahman and abides in Brahman, in Svānanda; / by the power of the vow alone he finds happiness in this world.

For those who do sinful deeds on the fourth [lunar day], there is no liberation; / because they are joined with sin, O king, they dwell in heaven,

and then they take rebirth on earth; there they enjoy the fruit of their own sins, / and then all of them become Gāṇapatyas.

Therefore that outcaste was placed in Kailāsa by the messengers of Gaṇeśa, / and solely to experience that sin has he now become your son.

Whatever sin is committed on the fourth [lunar day], the fourth [lunar day] always destroys it; / for that purpose, O king, your son shall observe the fourth [lunar day].”

Then, free from sin he shall become, of this there is no doubt; / and endowed with a son your son shall be, O great-minded one.

An action fraught with offense was done; for its destruction, / merit must diligently be performed—by that, misfortune is destroyed.

Infinite is the glory of the Caturthī, yet whatever sin occurred on that day, / filled with wrath, she destroys [only] with great difficulty.

Therefore, for the destruction of that sin, let him perform twelve Saṅkaṣṭī [observances]; / then the sin originating from the death of twelve Brahmins will depart."

Then the creator, Brahmā, filled with compassion, / reverently explained the observance to him; having bowed to him, the king departed.

Om Tat Sat. Thus, in the glorious final Upaniṣad of the Purāṇas, in the glorious Maudgala Mahāpurāṇa, in the third section, in the exploits of Mahodara, the thirty-second chapter, named "Instruction on the Observance to Dhanaka."

Section 3, Chapter 33, Page 73)