Vyāsa, what was spoken in earlier times by Brahmā, Hari, and Hara was indeed true. Those who listen to this sacred tale with a concentrated mind are truly blessed. Now, let me briefly recount it for you, O subduer of enemies. In the ancient Kṛta age, there lived a king named Damanona. This king, O Vyāsa, had strayed from the path of righteousness. He reviled cows and brāhmaṇas, seized the wealth of his subjects, and violated the sanctity of others’ wives. He captured cows, broke into cities, imprisoned people, and took pleasure in the company of fellow prisoners. Abandoning the virtuous, he favored the wicked, constantly disparaged dharma, and found delight in unrighteous acts. He went so far as to strike at the forms of the gods, the Vedas, and sacrifices with his very feet. One day, while wandering through a dreadful forest in pursuit of wild animals, the king failed to find any prey. Hungry and thirsty, he became increasingly desperate as night fell—a night filled with terror and haunted by horrors. He tethered his horse to a branch and sat alone, troubled and restless. Suddenly, something strange approached him. He wondered, “What is this? Where did it come from?” and tried to drive it away with his hand. But he was bitten, and in his distress, he collapsed to the ground. At that very moment, King Damanona became a ghost, plunged into a dreadful accumulation of hells. The attendants of King Yama rejoiced at his arrival. Meanwhile, Vyāsa, his lifeless body was devoured by flesh-eating creatures. Rising into the sky in this ghostly form, he carried meat with his beak as he wandered. In his wanderings, he came to the banks of the divine river Śiprā, rich in waters. There, his body fell into the waters of Śiprā. At that moment, the three-eyed Lord—Śiva—appeared, with matted locks and clad in a tiger skin. The messengers of Yama, witnessing this wondrous form, were struck with awe. They exclaimed, “Hear us, O great King! O Lord of Dharma, homage to you! The ruler of the Kīkaṭas is dull-witted, most sinful, and lord of the outcastes. Whatever sins exist—even those as grave as the slaying of a Brahmin—this fool, who breaks all boundaries and harms those who rightly follow their caste and stage of life, revels in Yama’s punishment and increases our joy. All the sinners who have fallen before, every one of them, since that time, have filled the pits of hell. And yet, no cry of suffering is heard at all in your abode. Only one has come into the world who does not yield to the lord of death.” When the Lord of Dharma heard these supreme words of the messengers, he wondered, “By what power of merit has this most sinful one attained blessedness?” He then declared, “On earth, in the most sacred place, within the auspicious great forest of Mahākāla, O messengers, for those who touch the waters of the Śiprā on earth—though they may have committed various sins by mind, body, or speech—whoever, at any place, utters the name ‘Śiprā, Śiprā,’ whether man or…” Thus, the glory of the Śiprā and the story of Damanona reveal the power of this sacred river to purify even the gravest of sinners.