Mahabharata — Shalya Parva, Shloka 48
Asita Devala Observes Jaigīṣavya’s Yogic Attainment and Chooses Mokṣa-dharma (देवल-जैगीषव्योपाख्यानम्)
इस प्रकार श्रीमहाभारत शल्यपर्वके अन्तर्गत गदापव॑नमें बलदेवजीकी तीर्थयात्रा और सारस्वतोपाख्यानके प्रसंगरमें बदरपाचनतीर्थका वर्णनविषयक अड्भतालीसवाँ अध्याय पूरा हुआ
iti prakāraṁ śrīmahābhārata-śalya-parvake antargata-gadāparvaṇi baladeva-jī-kī tīrtha-yātrā ca sārasvatopākhyāna-prasaṅge badarapācana-tīrthasya varṇana-viṣayakaḥ aṣṭacatvāriṁśattamo 'dhyāyaḥ pūrṇaḥ
Vaiśampāyana said: Thus ends the forty-eighth chapter, which—within the Śalya Parva, in the section concerning the club—describes Baladeva’s pilgrimage and, in the context of the Sārasvata episode, gives an account of the sacred ford known as Badarapācana. The narration marks the completion of this unit, framing pilgrimage and sacred geography as a moral counterpoint to the violence of the war.
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Even amid a war-centered narrative, the text foregrounds tīrtha-yātrā and the remembrance of sacred places as disciplines of purification and moral reorientation—reminding the listener that dharma is sustained not only by battle outcomes but also by restraint, reverence, and inner cleansing.
This line functions as a colophon: Vaiśampāyana signals the completion of the forty-eighth chapter, noting its subject matter—Baladeva’s pilgrimage and, within the Sārasvata episode, the description of Badarapācana Tīrtha—thereby closing that narrative unit.
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