Chapter LXXV - Tests of Karketana

Suta said:—The nails of the deceased Vala, the paramount king of the demons, scattered by the wind in the lovely tufts of the lotus plants, were transformed into the seeds of the gems known as the Karketanam, the most prized of all gems in the world.

A Karketanam is usually found to be possessed of a hue like the colours of honey, blood, and the moon beam blended together, and shines with a peculiar dazzling effulgence of a yellowish copper-tinged shade. A Karketanam which is’blue or white or lustreless, should be looked upon as of inferior quality, or affected with the inauspicious traits, or with any disease, peculiar to minerals.

Karketanas which are naturally coloured with an uniform shade of light yellow throughout their bodies, and are heavy, cool, glossy and devoid of all dreadful or inauspicious features as dullness of hue, cracks, fissures, etc., due to a deranged or defective (lit., diseased) process of crystalization in the course of its growth, should be looked upon as extremely rare and the holiest of the holies.

A Karketanam, set in an article or an ornament of gold, and appearing as if glowing with the blaze of a living fire, acts as the greatest known panacea and should be regarded as endued with the mystic virtue of increasing the progeny and the duration of life of its wearer, and of bringing happiness to his household by destroying the evil propensities of his mind, which are the inseparable companions of the miscreant Kali (the lord or creator of all moral evils).

Men who use such a Karketanam gem of high and wonderful virtues, whether for the purposes of decoration, or otherwise, are sure to be the masters of untold wealth, and are glorified in the world, and enjoy universal fame and perpetual felicity amidst the unsolicited affections of many a true, tested and devoted friends.

Stones of inferior light, shade, lustre, weight and origin, may be found to simulate a Karketam of the genuine species, which may be detected, at the first sight, by its high and inimitable excellence in respect of the foregoing points or attributes.

A Karketanam, clear and effulgent like the rays of the midday sun, should be valued by a connoisseur at a proper and adequate price, and according to its weight and native excellence.