Syamantaka

Syamantaka (Sanskrit: श्यामन्तक), Syamantaka mani (Sanskrit: श्यामन्तक मणि) or the Syamantaka Jewel(स्यमंतक मणि), is perhaps the most famous jewel in Hindu mythology, supposed to be blessed with magical powers.

The story of Syamantaka appears in the Vishnu Purana and the Bhagavata. The jewel originally belonged to the Sun god, who wore it around his neck. It was said that whichever land possessed this jewel would never encounter any calamities in the form of natural disasters such as droughts, floods, earthquakes or famines, and would always be full of prosperity and plenitude. Wherever the jewel remained, it would produce for the keeper eight bhāras of gold daily ("Four rice grains are called one guñjā; five guñjās, one paṇa; eight paṇas, one karṣa; four karṣas, one pala; and one hundred palas, one tulā. Twenty tulās make up one bhāra.") Since there are about 3,700 grains of rice in an ounce, the Syamantaka jewel was producing approximately 170 pounds of gold every day. It was also the source of the dazzling appearance of the Sun god.

On one occasion Satrajit, a Yadava nobleman, and a devotee of Surya, the Sun God, while walking along the sea shore, praying ardently, when the god himself appeared before him. Seeing the god in an indistinct and dazzling fiery shape, Satrajit asked him to appear in a less blinding form, so that he could see him clearly. On this the sun took the Syamantaka jewel off his neck, and Satrájit saw him of a dwarfish stature, with a body like burnished copper, and with slightly reddish eyes. Having offered his adorations, the sun offered him a boon, and he asked for the jewel. When Satrajit returned to Dwaraka with the jewel, people mistook him for the Sun God, such was his dazzling glory. Krishna asked him to present the jewel to Ugrasena, the supreme leader of the Yadavas, but Satrajit did not comply.

Satrajit later presented it to Prasen, his brother, who was also the ruler of a Yadava province. Prasen wore it often, until once while hunting in the forest while wearing it, he was attacked by a lion, which killed him and fled with the jewel. But it couldn't get away with it, for shortly after, it was attacked by Jambavan, described as king of the 'bears' or 'gorillas' according to different scriptures, who killed it after a fierce fight and took off with the bounty. Jambavan was loyal to Rama, and was considered one of the seven immortals or Chiranjeevi.

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