Note 452 — Chapter I

Besides the holy rivers, there are numerous kunds or sacred pools which are regarded with equal reverence, and in which a bath has the same efficacy for destroying sin. Similarly, they are equally suitable places for the performance of Shrāddha ceremonies. These kunds are the subject of numerous beliefs, and each of them has a certain māhātmya or peculiar merit of its own. Six miles to the east of Dwārkā, near the sea-coast, there is a kund called Pind-tārak, where many persons go to perform the Shrāddha and the Nārāyan-bali ceremonies. They first bathe in the kund: then, with its water, they prepare pindas, and place them in a metal dish: red lac is applied to the pindas, and a piece of cotton thread wound round them; the metal dish being then dipped in the kund, when the pindas, instead of sinking, are said to remain floating on the water. The process is believed to earn a good status for the spirits of departed ancestors in heaven.445 It is further said that physical ailments brought on by the avagati—degradation or fallen condition—of ancestors in the other world, are remedied by the performance of Shrāddha on this kund.452