O beautiful one, listen as I recount the wondrous and terrible events of old, as spoken by the divine sages. The merit that men obtain by bathing at all the holy places is indeed great, yet even with such merit, they fall again and again in this world, which is ever filled with pleasure and pain. Only when a person’s sins are truly destroyed does the vision of the Supreme become possible. Even those weighed down by the gravest of sins—a slayer of a Brahmin, a drinker of liquor, a thief, or one who violates the teacher’s bed—such a person too may attain the supreme state, free from further rebirth. The fruit gained from performing mighty sacrifices like the Aśvamedha or the Rājasūya is indeed praised, yet those who rely solely on such fruits and remain bound by ignorance are like animals in this world; their birth is in vain. Thus, after speaking these truths, the god Keśava and Brahmā themselves, O lovely-faced one, declared this glory which destroys all sin. I have told you this, O goddess, so you may know its power. By merely beholding him, wealth arises in this world. Once, O goddess, while you were playing with me in my celestial palace, all the gods, moved by a certain purpose, sent Agni into my presence. At that time, as I played, my seed was cast into the mouth of Agni. Agni, bearing this divine and exceedingly difficult-to-bear seed, carried it away and deposited it. From what remained of that divine seed, beautiful gold was born. When the first offspring of Agni appeared in this form, O Pārvatī, all manner of beings—Yakṣas, Sādhyas, Piśācas, humans, Rākṣasas, and birds—were seized with desire for the gold, and a great tumult arose, each one shouting, “This is mine!” In that frenzy, the chief of weapons and various arms manifested themselves. The Asuras fought with Asuras, humans with humans, beings with their own kind, and Rākṣasas with Rākṣasas. So intense was the greed that a son hated his father, and likewise a father hated his son. A son killed his mother, and a mother destroyed her son. Among gods and demons, all became exceedingly terrible; spears with razor-sharp points and many kinds of weapons filled the air. For the sake of gold, O great goddess, they shed much blood. Swords, spears, maces, and arrows rained down upon the earth. Their bodies were smeared with blood as they slew one another, and a great and terrifying clamor arose, echoing by the thousands. With iron clubs, nooses, and fists as hard as thunderbolts, they shouted, “Cut! Break! Run forward! Strike down! Attack!” As this dreadful and tumultuous battle raged, the very oceans were agitated and the mountains trembled. The sages, beginning with the Vālakhilyas, and the gods led by Indra, battered and breathless, began to speak. Hearing their cries, Brahmā, the grandsire of the worlds, asked them, “By whom have you been so battered? Who is that wicked Dānava by whom you have been so grievously afflicted?” Then the gods, together with Brahmā and the others, revealed to me the cause of their fear: “We have all been destroyed out of greed, and because of gold.” Hearing their words, O beautiful one, I understood the truth. It was he—greed for gold—by whom, in a single moment, the destruction of the three worlds was wrought.