Vasiṣṭha said:
1-2. O best king, now I shall tell you the importance of Māgha told by Dattātreya to Kārtavīrya who had asked (him about it). The king, the lord of Māhiṣmatī, went to that brāhmaṇa Dattātreya (who was) actually Viṣṇu, who lived on the Sahya mountain, and asked him (about the bath in Māgha).
Sahasrārjuna said:
3. O revered one, O best among the meditating saints, I have heard (about) all practices. O you of a good vow, favour me and tell me about the fruit of the bath in Māgha.
Dattātreya said:
4-18. O best king, listen to the auspicious answer to this question. This was formerly told by Brahmā to the illustrious Nārada. I shall tell you the great, entire fruit of the bath in Māgha according to the region, holy place, manner and rites. In this Bhāratavarṣa, especially in the land of religious rites the existence of those who do not have the bath in Māgha is said to be fruitless. A good act does not shine without the bath in Māgha, as the sky without the Sun or the cluster of stars without the Moon, O king. Viṣṇu is not so much pleased with vows, gifts, austerities as he is pleased just with a bath in Māgha. No (other) lustre resembles the Sun’s lustre. Similarly the sacrificial rites do not resemble the bath in Māgha. A man should (daily) take a bath in Māgha to please Viṣṇu, to remove all sins, and for obtaining heaven. What is the use of preserving the well-nourished, strong, uncertain, and impure body, if it would be without a bath in Māgha? The body is supported by bones, bound by sinews, besmeared with flesh and blood, covered with skin, has a bad smell and is a receptacle of urine and feces. It is pervaded by old age, affliction and calamities. It is an abode of diseases; it is sick; it is covered with dust. It is perishable. It is the abode of all blemishes. It torments others and is afflicted by torment. It deceives others. It is a great (i.e. strong) poison. It is greedy; it is wicked, cruel; it is ungrateful and momentary also. It is difficult to be filled, difficult to be borne, wicked, and is attended by the vitiation of the three humours. It is impure, exuding; it has cavities, and is deluded by the three humours. It is naturally engaged in impious acts. It is full of hundreds of desires. It stands at the gates of hell due to sexual desire, anger and great greed. It is full of worms and feces. It is reduced to ashes. It is, in effect, an oblation to dogs. Such a body is useless without (i.e. if it does not have) the bath in Māgha. Those who go without the bath in Māgha are born to die only like bubbles in water or pus in beings.
19-25. A brāhmaṇa not devoted to Viṣṇu is doomed. A śrāddha without a meditating saint is worthless. A place which is unholy is worthless. A family without (good) practices is accursed. Religious practices accompanied by hypocrisy are worthless. Penance is doomed just by anger. Unstable knowledge is worthless. Learning is doomed by errors. A woman not devoted to the elders is wretched. A celibate is spoilt by her. Sacrifice into a fire that is not blazing is worthless. Enjoyment without a witness (i.e. companion) is worthless. A daughter affording a livelihood is condemned. Cooking for oneself is condemned. A sacrifice depending upon (articles) begged from a śūdra is worthless. Knowledge without practice is worthless. One opposing the king is doomed. A holy place (resorted to) for livelihood is worthless. A vow (undertaken) for livelihood is condemned. Speech void of truth is worthless; so also is calumny. An ambiguous hymn is worthless. Muttering prayers with a distracted mind is worthless. A gift (given) to a brāhmaṇa who is not learned, is worthless. Atheists are condemned. All that is done without faith for being useful in the next world is accursed.
26-39. O king, as this world is of no use for the poor, so the existence of men without the Māgha bath is accursed. How would he who does not bathe before sunrise when the Sun is in the sign of Capricornus, be freed from sins, or would go to heaven? A killer of a brāhmaṇa, he who would steal gold, a drunkard, he who violates his teacher’s bed (i.e. wife) and the fifth one—their companion (i.e. abettor), become free from sin by bathing in Māgha. In the month of Māgha the waters shout somewhat (like this): We shall purify the killer of a brāhmaṇa, so also a drunkard who is trembling. When a man takes the Māgha bath, all his minor sins, so also all his major sins are reduced to ash. At the (time of) the union with the Māgha bath all sins tremble: ‘This is the time of our destruction if he will bathe in the water.’ Seeing a man ready to bathe (in Māgha) the sins cry like this. The best men shine like fires due to Māgha baths. They are free from all sins like the Moon from the clouds. The Māgha bath would burn sins—deliberate, non-deliberate, minor, major, and committed through speech, mind or (physical) act. The Māgha bath would burn sins as the fire (burns) the sacred fuel; so also a sin due to error committed knowingly or unknowingly. That would perish just by a bath when the Sun is in the (sign of) Capricornus. The sinless ones go to heaven; the most sinful are purified. O king, no doubt should be entertained about this Māgha bath. O king, all are entitled to (a bath) in Māgha as they are to the devotion to Viṣṇu. Māgha (bath) gives heaven to all; removes the sins of all. It is in itself a great hymn. It is in itself a great penance. That excellent bath in Māgha is a great expiation. Men have an inclination for Māgha bath after a practice for many existences, as, O king, proficiency in metaphysical knowledge (comes) after practice for many existences. O king, the Māgha bath is efficacious in washing off the smearing by mud in the form of the worldly existence.
40-41a. O king, the Māgha bath is the most purifying of all the purifying (objects). O king, how can those (men) who don’t bath in Māgha which gives the fruits of all desires, enjoy pleasures like the planets Sun and Moon?
41b-52. O king, listen to the great wonder due to the Māgha bath. A good brāhmaṇa lady, Kubjikā by name, belonging to the Bḥṛgu family, was afflicted by widowhood since her childhood; she practised a very difficult penance. At a great holy place, at the confluence of the Revā and Kapilā at the foot of Vindhya, observing a vow, and being highly devoted to Viṣṇu, she was always engaged in good practices, and always (living) without any company, had subdued her senses, her anger, spoke the truth, and talked little. She was of a good character, was given to charity and to parching up her body. Having offered oblations into the fire to her dead ancestors, deities and brāhmaṇas, she took food at the sixth time (i.e. once in three days), and always lived by gleaning grains; and by means of such vows as Kṛcchra, Atikṛcchra, Pārāka, Taptakṛcchra and others, she passed the auspicious months on the bank of Narmadā. In this way the lady, practising penance, wearing bark-garments, of a good character, of an extremely good disposition, and endowed with courage and contentment, bathed for sixty Māgha months at the confluence of Revā and Kapilā. O king, then she, emaciated due to the penance, died at that holy place. (And) due to that religious merit from the Māgha bath she lived in joy for four thousand yugas in Viṣṇu’s city. Then, for the destruction of Sunda and Upasunda, she was again born from Brahma’s heaven, as Tilottamā. Due to the religious merit that was left, she was the sole object of beauty (i.e. was most beautiful). She, not born from the womb, the gem of a lady, deluding even the gods, the pool of beauty, slim, was the best among the celestial nymphs.
53-67a. She indeed caused wonder to the skilful creator Brahmā. The creator, having created her, was delighted; and then ordered her: “O you having (bewitching) eyes like those of a young one of a deer, quickly go for the destruction of the demons.” Then that beautiful lady took a lute, went from Brahmā’s heaven along the path by Puṣkara, to the place where the enemies of the gods (stood). Having bathed there in pure, clean water of Revā, she put on a red garment bright like the Badhūka flowers; her bracelets were jingling, and her girdle and anklets were sweetly tinkling. The necklace of pearls round her neck was moving; she was beautiful due to the unsteady earrings; she had worn the wreath of spring flowers; she stood by an aśoka tree. She sang with sweet tunes; she struck (the strings of) her lute; she passed from one key to another of the six (keys of gamut), with smoothness, delicacy and with low and inarticulate tones. Thus that young Tilottamā stood in the Aśoka-grove. She, giving pleasure like a digit of the Moon, was seen by the demon-soldiers. Seeing her, the soldiers being delighted and without (properly) observing her, very quickly went to Sunda and Upasunda. Describing her again and again, they told about her in confusion: “O demons, we do not know whether she is a goddess or a demoness, or whether she is a nāga lady or a yakṣa lady, but she is by all means a gem of a lady. You two enjoy gems in the world, and that lady is a gem. She who removes sorrow, is under the aśoka tree, not far (from here). Go and quickly see her, deluding even Cupid.” Hearing these charming words of their generals, the two abandoned their glass of liquor, gave up sprinkling with water, left thousands of excellent ladies, and from that lake they went, each one taking a separate mace that weighed a hundred bhāras, that was made of iron, that was hard, that resembled the staff of Death, speedily by jumping to that place where the passionate lady ready with a dress suited to amorous interviews had stood, as it were inflaming the fire of the passion of love of the two demons, O king.
67b-80. The two villains, infatuated by her beauty stood in front of her (and) especially being intoxicated due to liquor, said to each other: “O brother, wait, let me have this lady of an excellent complexion as my wife.” “O good one, leave her—my wife—of bewitching eyes.” Thus inflamed with strong attachment, and furious like elephants they, ordered by Death, struck each other with a mace, and by the strokes of each other fell down dead on the earth. Seeing them dead, the soldiers made a great noise: “Who is this, resembling the night of Death? What is this that has come up?” When (the soldiers in) the armies were speaking like this, Tilottamā, dropped Sunda and Upasunda on the peak of the mountain, and illumining the ten quarters she quickly proceeded to the sky. Having done the mission of the gods, she came to Brahmā. Then the delighted god approved of her (mission). “O you moon-faced one, I have allotted you a place on the Sun’s chariot. Enjoy many pleasures as long as the Sun remains in the sky.” O king, that brāhmaṇa lady having thus become an excellent celestial nymph, even now enjoys the great fruit of the Māgha bath in the other world. Therefore, O king, men having faith (and desiring) to go to the best position, should always through effort bathe when the Sun is in Capricornus. There is no goal of human life not attained, there is no sin that is not destroyed of the man who bathes in Māgha. All sacrifices with presents are not equal to the Māgha bath, and especially at a holy place, O king, since, on the earth there is no other act giving heaven, or destroying sins, or giving salvation like the Māgha bath.