Chapter LXXVII - Tests of Pulaka stones

Suta said:—The serpents, having worshipped the nails of the deceased lord of the demons, carried them away in their mouths and deposited them on the summits of the holy mountains (Himalayas) and in the beds of rivers which flow through the hallowed confines of the countries beyond (situate to the north of) those mountains.

Pulakas (a kind of gem) found in the beds of rivers flowing through such countries as Dasharna (the eastern part of modern Malwa), Agadha, Makala (Modern Amara-kantaka, the source of the Narmada) and in the provinces of Gandhara (modern Afghanisthan) and Valhika (Bactria or modern Balkh), and coloured like the seeds of the Gunja (a kind of shrubs bearing red-black berries) honey and the stems of the lotus plants or earth-coloured, should be regarded as belonging to the most commendable type.

Pulakas possessed of variegated colours like those of conchshells, lotus flowers, black bees, and Arka flowers and chequered with lines, should be deemed as the most auspicious and holiest of their species, and as granting increase of wealth and progeny to their wearers.

Pulakas possessed of a hue like the colour of a crow or of an ass or of a jackal or of a wolf or carried away and deposited in a place by vultures in their blood-stained beaks, bring death to the person who collects or keeps them in his possession. Hence the intelligent should avoid a Pulaka of any of the aforesaid characters.

A Pulaka of the commendable type, weighing a Pala in weight, should be valued at five hundred silver coins.