Note 44 — Chapter I
Reading edition
(14) Harsidh.—Gāndhavi in Bardā and Ujjain are the places dedicated to this goddess. There is a tradition connected with her that her image stood in a place of worship facing the sea on Mount Koyalo in Gandhavi. She was believed to sink or swallow all the vessels that sailed by. A Bania named Jagadusā, knowing this, propitiated her by the performance of religious austerities. On being asked what boon he wanted from her, he requested her to descend from her mountain-seat. She agreed on the Bania promising to offer a living victim for every footstep she took in descending. Thus he sacrificed one victim after another until the number of victims he had brought was exhausted. He then first offered his four or five children, then his wife and lastly himself. In reward for his self-devotion the goddess faced towards Miani and no mishaps are believed to take place in the village.44