Adhyaya 20

Śrī Sūta proclaims the sin-destroying power of Pāpanāśana-tīrtha through an exemplary tale. Bhadrmati, a learned brāhmaṇa of good conduct yet crushed by poverty, laments how want brings social disregard and inner anguish. His wife Kāminī—portrayed as a discerning pativratā—urges a pilgrimage to Veṅkaṭācala: bathe with saṅkalpa, seek Śrīnivāsa, and perform bhū-dāna (the gift of land), citing Nārada’s teaching and her father’s precedent. The chapter extols bhū-dāna as the highest of gifts, listing its superior fruits and even lofty ritual equivalences, and declaring that it can annul grave sins when given to a worthy recipient (śrotriya, ahi-tāgni). The donor Sughōṣa grants Bhadrmati a measured plot, dedicating the act to Janārdana, and thereby attains an auspicious post-mortem destiny. Bhadrmati then journeys with his family to Veṅkaṭācala, bathes at Svāmi-saras, beholds Veṅkaṭeśvara, and completes the land-donation at Pāpanāśana-tīrtha. By the rite’s power Viṣṇu appears, bearing conch, discus, and mace, receives Bhadrmati’s hymn, and grants assurance of worldly welfare and final liberation; Sūta closes by reaffirming the māhātmya of the tīrtha and of land-donation.