Shloka 28

Vaitaraṇī-tīrtha and the Devayāna Path

Kaliṅga Episode

Devanagari script

अभ्निश्च ते योनिरिडा च देहो रेतोधा विष्णोरमृतस्य नाभि: । एवं जपन्‌ पाण्डव सत्यवाक्यं ततो<5वगाहेत पतिं नदीनाम्‌,“हे महासागर! अग्नि तुम्हारी योनि (कारण) है और यज्ञ शरीर है, तुम भगवान्‌ विष्णुकी शक्तिके आधार और मोक्षके साधन हो।/' पाण्डुपुत्र! इस सत्य वचनको बोलते हुए नदियोंके स्वामी समुद्रमें स्नान करना चाहिये

Transliteration

agniś ca te yonir iḍā ca deho retodhā viṣṇor amṛtasya nābhiḥ | evaṃ japan pāṇḍava satyavākyaṃ tato ’vagāheta patiṃ nadīnām ||

Translation

قال لوماشا: «النارُ رحمُك (مصدرُك)، والقرابينُ (اليَجْنَة) جسدُك؛ أنتَ سندُ شَكْتي فيشنو وسُرّةُ الخلود. يا ابنَ باندو، إذا تلا المرءُ هذه الحقيقةَ بصدقٍ كصيغةٍ مقدّسة، فليدخلْ بعد ذلك وليغتسلْ في المحيط، سيّدِ الأنهار».

Word by Word

• {'agniḥ': 'fire

• the sacrificial fire, primal source', 'ca': 'and', 'te': 'your', 'yoniḥ': 'womb

• causal source', 'iḍā': 'Idā

• sacrificial nourishment/oblation (also a Vedic term connected with ritual offering)', 'dehaḥ': 'body

• embodiment', 'retodhā': 'seed-holder

• bearer of generative essence', 'viṣṇoḥ': 'of Viṣṇu', 'amṛtasya': 'of immortality

• of nectar (amṛta)', 'nābhiḥ': 'navel

• central hub/source', 'evaṃ': 'thus

• in this manner', 'japan': 'muttering/reciting (a mantra)

• repeating in prayer', 'pāṇḍava': 'O Pāṇḍava

• descendant/son of Pāṇḍu', 'satyavākyaṃ': 'truthful utterance

• true statement', 'tataḥ': 'then

• thereafter', 'avagāheta': 'should enter into (water)

• should bathe/immerse', 'patiṃ': 'lord

• master', 'nadīnām': 'of rivers', 'patiṃ nadīnām': 'the lord of rivers (the Ocean/Sea)'}

Speaker

लोमश उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Lomaśa
• Pāṇḍava (son of Pāṇḍu)
• Agni
• Viṣṇu
• Ocean/Sea (samudra; pati of rivers)
• Idā (Vedic ritual term)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse links external purification (bathing in the ocean) with inner discipline: truthful speech and reverent recitation. It teaches that sacred acts gain ethical force when grounded in satya (truth) and performed with awareness of the cosmic-sacrificial order (Agni, yajña, Viṣṇu, amṛta).

What is happening in the narrative?

Lomaśa instructs a Pāṇḍava on how to approach the ocean as a holy place: one should recite a specific truthful formula praising the ocean’s sacred origins and cosmic role, and then immerse/bathe in it, treating the sea as the ‘lord of rivers’ worthy of ritual respect.