Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c9.5168

c9.5168

Long ago, in Kṛtayuga, there lived in the country of Niṣadha, a very wealthy Vaiśya, by name Hemakuṇḍala. By doing various kinds of business, he had earned eight crores of golden coins. By that time he was advancing in age. At this stage he began to think of the transitoriness of worldly pleasures and set apart one-sixth of his entire wealth for charitable purposes. He built two temples—one for Viṣṇu and the other for Śiva. He offered daily worship to the gods and spent money in generous hospitality. His two sons, Śrikuṇḍala and Vikuṇḍala were growing up. He entrusted the burden of domestic affairs to them and went to the forest to perform austere tapas, after which he attained Viṣṇuloka.