The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c17.s1.132

v2.c17.s1.132

At this juncture, the renowned sage Nārada, the mind-born son of Brahmā, paid the king a visit, and in course of conversation, strengthened his resolve by an elaborate discourse in praise of the Blue God, and of the merit of worshipping him with the true fervour of a Vaiṣṇava. 'All the sacred pools', he said, 'including the confluence at Prayāga, the river Ganges, a thousand repetitions of the great horse-sacrifice, penances, fasts and abstinences, observed thousands of times, and these put together and multiplied over and over millions of times, would not represent a thousandth part of the merit of faith in Viṣṇu.'