Mahabharata — Shalya Parva, Shloka 42
Sarasvatī-Śāpavimokṣa, Rākṣasa-Mokṣa, and Aruṇā-Tīrtha
Indra–Namuci Expiation
आगच्छच्च पुनर्मार्ग स्वमेव सरितां वरा
āgacchac ca punar mārgaṃ svam eva saritāṃ varā | nareśvara, as prakāraḥ sa sthānaṃ jagati vasiṣṭhāpavāhaka-nāmnā vikhyātaṃ abhavat | vasiṣṭhajī-ko bahāne ke paścāt saritāsu śreṣṭhā sarasvatī punaḥ sva-pūrva-mārgeṇa eva vahanī lagī || iti śrīmahābhārate śalyaparvaṇi gadāparvaṇi baladevātīrthayātrāyāṃ sārasvatopākhyāne dvi-catvāriṃśo 'dhyāyaḥ ||
Vasiṣṭha said: “O best of rivers, return again to your own course.” In this way, that spot became renowned in the world by the name “Vasiṣṭhāpavāhaka” (the place where Vasiṣṭha was carried away). After Vasiṣṭha had been borne along, Sarasvatī—the foremost among rivers—once more flowed along her former channel. Thus ends the forty-second chapter in the Sārasvata episode, within Baladeva’s pilgrimage in the Gadā section of the Śalya Parva of the Mahābhārata.
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage links moral-spiritual authority (ṛṣi Vasiṣṭha) with the sanctification of landscape: a place becomes a tīrtha through a dharmic event and remembrance. It also suggests restoration—after disturbance, the sacred order (the river’s rightful course) is re-established.
Vasiṣṭha addresses Sarasvatī, instructing her to return to her own channel. The location where Vasiṣṭha was carried away becomes famous as “Vasiṣṭhāpavāhaka,” and Sarasvatī resumes her earlier flow, concluding this chapter of the Sārasvata episode within Baladeva’s pilgrimage account.
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