Dhaneśvara of Vārāṇasī

Dhaneśvara · dhana-īśvara, “the master of wealth”

Dhaneśvara was a vaiśya of Vārāṇasī who honoured devatās and brāhmaṇas. Bhagavān Śrī Kṛshṇa tells his account to Yudhishṭhira in the Uttara Parva, on the glory of anna-dāna, the gift of food.

A female serpent laid an egg in Dhaneśvara’s shop and left. In compassion he guarded the egg, and when a young black serpent came out, he gave it milk every day. Once, while he had gone to bathe in the Gaṅgā, his son struck the serpent with a stick, and it settled on the boy’s head to take his life. Dhaneśvara came home uttering the names of Bhagavān Vishṇu, Acyuta, Govinda and Ananta, and asked the serpent why it sat on his son. He said that one who makes a fool his friend drags burning coals with his own hand.

He asked the serpent to wait a moment, so that he could feed brāhmaṇas and do his own after-death rites with his own hand, for he would have no son. The serpent agreed. He fed a thousand brāhmaṇas with ghee and pāyasa, and their blessing struck the serpent dead. Grieved that the serpent he had reared as a son had died through his fault, he reflected that there is no merit in being good to those who do one good; the one who is good even to those who harm him is called a sādhu by the good. He neither ate that day nor slept that night. Next day he fed a thousand brāhmaṇas again, and as his vara (a boon) asked that the serpent live. The brāhmaṇas sprinkled it with water consecrated with mantras, it came back to life, and the people of the city praised Dhaneśvara.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 169

Sources

• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 169