Mahabharata — Shalya Parva, Shloka 236
Baka Dālbhya at Avakīrṇa-tīrtha: Rāṣṭra-kṣaya and Release through Prasāda (Śalya-parva, Adhyāya 40)
नियमैश्लोपवासैश्व कर्षयन् देहमात्मन: । राजन! उन्होंने सरस्वतीके उस श्रेष्ठ तीर्थमें चित्तको एकाग्र करके नियमों और उपवासोंके द्वारा अपने शरीरको सुखाना आरम्भ किया
niyamaiś copavāsaiś ca karṣayan deham ātmanaḥ | rājan, sarasvatyāḥ tasmin śreṣṭhe tīrthe cittam ekāgraṃ kṛtvā niyamopavāsābhyāṃ śarīraśoṣaṇaṃ prārabhata |
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: “O King, fixing his mind with single-pointed concentration at that excellent sacred ford of the Sarasvatī, he began to discipline himself—drying and subduing his own body through vows of restraint and fasting.”
वैशग्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights tapas guided by dharma: disciplined vows and fasting are meaningful when joined with mental one-pointedness, aiming at self-mastery rather than mere bodily suffering.
At a revered tīrtha on the Sarasvatī, the person being described undertakes austerities—concentrating the mind and beginning a regimen of restraints and fasting that emaciates the body.
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