There was once a man who, having squandered all his wealth, found himself utterly destitute. He spent even his own ornaments upon himself, but when his fortune was gone, the courtesans abandoned him, and people scorned him for his poverty. Overcome by anxiety, naked and tormented by hunger, he wandered in misery, thinking to himself, “What shall I do? Where shall I go? By what means can I live?” Driven by desperation, he began to steal in his own father’s city. Each time he was caught by the king’s men, he was released out of respect for his father. Yet, unable to change his ways, he was arrested again and again. Eventually, his bold but misguided conduct led him to be bound with strong fetters. He was beaten with whips and tormented repeatedly, until the king told him, “You foolish soul, you must not remain in my domain.” With these words, the king released him from his bonds, and, fearful for his life, the man fled into the dense forest. There, afflicted by hunger and thirst, his mind restless, he roamed about and, like a lion, began to kill deer, boar, and many other animals for food. Intent on eating flesh, he lived in the forest, always carrying a bow and a quiver on his back. He wandered, killing birds such as chakoras, peacocks, herons, partridges, and even mice. This cruel, bold-minded man, blinded by sin and sunk in the mire of evil from sins of previous births, continued his violent ways. But suffering and sorrow overwhelmed him, tormenting him day and night. By the force of some remaining merit, he once reached the hermitage of the sage Kaundinya. It was the month of Mādhava when, burdened with grief, he approached the sage, who had just bathed in the holy Ganges. As he stood before Kaundinya, a single drop of water from the sage’s garment touched him, and at that moment, his sins and misfortunes were destroyed. With palms joined in reverence, he spoke to the sage. He said, “O best of Brahmins, show me compassion. Tell me by what power of merit liberation may be attained.” The sage Kaundinya replied, “Listen with focused mind to that by which your sins are destroyed. In the bright fortnight of Vaiśākha, there is a renowned Ekādaśī called Mohinī. Observe the vow of Ekādaśī on that day as I instruct you. Sins as great as Mount Meru are destroyed for embodied beings. Mohinī, when properly observed, destroys sins accumulated over many births.” Hearing these words, the man’s mind became serene. He performed the vow of Mohinī Ekādaśī exactly as Kaundinya had instructed him. When the vow was completed, he became free from sin. Then, having attained a divine body, he mounted Garuḍa and ascended to the world of Viṣṇu, released from all afflictions. Thus, O Rāma, is the supreme Mohinī vow. In all the three worlds, there is nothing greater than this among moving and unmoving beings. Sacrifices, pilgrimages, and gifts do not equal even a sixteenth part of its merit. By reciting or hearing this story, one attains the fruit of giving a thousand cows. Thus ends the forty-ninth chapter, named “Mohinī Ekādaśī of the bright fortnight of Vaiśākha,” in the dialogue between Umāpati and Nārada, in the Uttarakhaṇḍa of the glorious Padma Mahāpurāṇa. Later, Nārada, ever eager for knowledge, approached Mahādeva and asked, “O best of gods, tell me for my benefit about the worship of Yama. How can a man avoid going to another hell, O Lord? It is heard that in the world of Yama there is always the river Vaitaraṇī, impossible to approach, boundless, difficult to cross, and filled with much blood. It is difficult for all beings to cross; how can it be easily crossed? This is my great fear, O Mahādeva, regarding the world of Yama. For the sake of liberation from that, tell me fully what should be done, O Lord of gods, showing your compassion upon me.” Mahādeva replied, “Once, O brāhmaṇa, I bathed in the salt ocean at Dvāravatī. There I saw the sage Mudgala approaching, shining like a blazing sun, his body radiant with austerity. After bowing to me, the sage Mudgala, filled with wonder, spoke. He said, ‘O Lord, I suddenly lost consciousness and fell to the ground; my limbs were burning, and I was seized by Yama’s attendants. Dragged by force, I became the size of a thumb, tightly bound by Yama’s guards, and was led near the Lord of Death. In a moment, I saw Yama in his assembly—tawny-eyed, dark-faced, exceedingly terrible, surrounded by hundreds of diseases and death. He was attended by forms embodying the faults of wind, bile, and phlegm, with emaciation, fever, afflictions, eruptions, and wasting diseases; with burning, body pain, head agony, fistula, loss of strength, throat tumors, eye diseases, painful urination, fever, and ulcers; with fainting, throat constriction, heart diseases, spirits, and thieves—thus, with many fierce and terrifying forms of various kinds. There were skulls, severed heads, and hands in the hellish battlefield, with dreadful demons and rākṣasas, seated and standing before me. There were officers of justice, scribes like Citragupta, tigers, lions, boars, and hair-tufted serpents, extremely hard to overcome; scorpions, fanged spirits, insects, beetles, wolves, strange dogs, herons, vultures, and jackals; thieves, spirits of poverty, Māras, witches, wild-haired, with asthma and cough, frowning, with crooked faces. Yama shone in his assembly, attended by formidable and fearless enforcers, rulers over those who commit evil deeds, surrounded by their retinues. And with beings as fierce as wild forest-dwellers, like a mountain encircled by venomous creatures, then the Lord of all addressed his servants.