Chapter LXXVI - Test of Bhisma-stone

Suta said:—The (seeds) semen of the lord of the demons which was contained in its natural receptacle at the time of his dissolution, was cast in a country situate to the north of the Himalayas, and was transformed into the mines of that excellent gem which is known as the stone of Bhishma.

A Bhishma stone is usually found to be of a white colour like that of a conchshell and resplendent like a ray of the unclouded sun, while the one of a comparatively later origin, is sometimes mistaken for a diamond.

The man who devoutly wears a pure Bhishma stone, set in gold, about his neck, perpetually meets with the good in life. The wild and fierce beasts of the forest, such as wolves, leopards, Sharabhas (fabulous eight-feeted beasts of the rhinoceros tribe) elephants, tigers and lions, shun the presence of a man who wears a Bhishma stone about his neck, and hurriedly fly away even if happened to be near his person. Such a man can easily satisfy any number of wives, and usually gets the upper hand in matters of sexual enjoyment. Libations of water or obsequious oblations offered to one’s departed manes with a hand, adorned with a ring set with a Bhishma stone, give them a satisfaction which lasts for years to come, and poisons of such venomous creatures, as serpents, moles, scorpions or of any other oviparous animals, however strong and active, readily yield to its mystic potency. The wearer of such a stone enjoys a sort of immunity from the dangers of a watery grave and acts of incendiarism, and thieves and robbers dare not intrude upon the precincts of his house.

A wise man shall shun, from a distance, a Bhishma stone which is possessed of a blended colour (greenish blue) like the hues which respectively mark a rain cloud and the zoophytes (water plants,) or tinged with a dull, lifeless yellow, or faded and discoloured. The intelligent shall fix the price of a Bhishma stone with an eye to the nature of the season of the year and the place of its origin, one obtained in a remote country fetching a higher price than its kindred of local origin, or obtained in a country which is not distant from the place of its sale.