Chapter 79: Sphatika: crystal and where it arises

Sphatika: crystal and where it arises

Suta says that Balarama, the plough-bearer, carefully scattered the fat of the danava over the lands of Kavera, the Vindhya, Yavana, China and Nepal. From it arose sphatika, crystal, clear as the sky, along with the kind called taila. It is white as a lotus stalk or a conch, sometimes touched with a faint tinge of another colour. No other gem quite matches it, and it is also a destroyer of sin. When a craftsman has worked and polished it, it gains some value at once, though the text sets no fixed price as it does for the greater gems. The chapter is three verses long and is the briefest account of any stone among the gems.