Canto 10: The Summum BonumChapter 56: The Syamantaka Jewel

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.56.11

dine dine svarṇa-bhārān

aṣṭau sa sṛjati prabho

durbhikṣa-māry-ariṣṭāni

sarpādhi-vyādhayo 'śubhāḥ

na santi māyinas tatra

yatrāste 'bhyarcito maṇiḥ

SYNONYMS

dine dine — day after day; svarṇa — of gold; bhārān — bhāras (a measure of weight); aṣṭau — eight; saḥit; sṛjati — would produce; prabhoO master (Parīkṣit Mahārāja); durbhikṣa — famine; māri — untimely deaths; ariṣṭāni — catastrophes; sarpa — snake (bites); ādhi — mental disorders; vyādhayaḥ — diseases; aśubhāḥ — inauspicious; na santi — there are none; māyinaḥ — cheaters; tatra — there; yatra — where; āsteit is present; abhyarcitaḥ — properly worshiped; maṇiḥ — the gem.

TRANSLATION

Each day the gem would produce eight bhāras of gold, my dear Prabhu, and the place in which it was kept and properly worshiped would be free of calamities such as famine or untimely death, and also of evils like snake bites, mental and physical disorders and the presence of deceitful persons.

PURPORT

Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī gives the following śāstric reference concerning the bhāra:

caturbhir vrīhibhir guñjāḿ

guñjāḥ pañca paṇaḿ paṇān

aṣṭau dharaṇam aṣṭau ca

karṣaḿ tāḿś caturaḥ palam

tulāḿ pala-śataḿ prāhur

bhāraḥ syād viḿśatis tulāḥ

"Four rice grains are called one guñjā; five guñjās, one paṇa; eight paṇas, one karṣa; four karṣas, one pala; and one hundred palas, one tulā. Twenty tulās make up one bhāra." Since there are about 3,700 grains of rice in an ounce, the Syamantaka jewel was producing approximately 170 pounds of gold every day.

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