Shloka 83
Tīrtha-yātrā: Phalaśruti and Sacred Geography from Lohitya to Prayāga
Pulastya’s Instruction
शुक्लपक्षे दशम्यां च पुण्डरीकं॑ समाविशेत् । तत्र स्नात्वा नरो राजन् पुण्डरीकफलं लभेत्,शुक्लपक्षकी दशमी तिथिको पुण्डरीकतीर्थमें प्रवेश करे। राजन्! वहाँ स्नान करनेसे मनुष्यको पुण्डरीकयागका फल प्राप्त होता है इति श्रीमहाभारते वनपर्वणि तीर्थयात्रापर्वणि पुलस्त्यती र्थयात्रायां त्रय्शीतितमो<5ध्याय:
śuklapakṣe daśamyāṃ ca puṇḍarīkaṃ samāviśet | tatra snātvā naro rājan puṇḍarīkaphalaṃ labhet |
শুক্লপক্ষৰ দশমী তিথিত পুণ্ডৰীক-তীৰ্থত প্ৰৱেশ কৰা উচিত। হে ৰাজন, তাত স্নান কৰিলে মানুহে পুণ্ডৰীকৰ ফল লাভ কৰে।
घुलस्त्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that dharmic merit is cultivated through disciplined pilgrimage: observing an auspicious time (Śuklapakṣa Daśamī), approaching a recognized tīrtha (Puṇḍarīka), and performing purificatory bathing with faith, thereby gaining the tīrtha’s promised spiritual reward.
In the tīrthayātrā section of the Vana Parva, the sage Pulastya instructs the king about specific pilgrimage observances. Here he prescribes entering the Puṇḍarīka sacred ford on the bright-fortnight Daśamī and states that bathing there yields the tīrtha’s fruit (religious merit).