Shloka 20
Gaṅgādvāra-tīrtha, Ulūpī-saṃvāda, and Arjuna’s Dharma-Deliberation (गङ्गाद्वार-तीर्थम्, उलूपी-संवादः)
यदि दत्तं यदि हुतं विद्यते यदि नस्तपः । तेन तिष्ठन्तु नगरे पाण्डवा: शरदां शतम्,यदि हमने दान और होम किया है, यदि हमारी तपस्या शेष है तो उन सबके पुण्यसे ये पाण्डव सौ वर्षतक इसी नगरमें निवास करें”
vaiśampāyana uvāca | yadi dattaṃ yadi hutaṃ vidyate yadi nas tapaḥ | tena tiṣṭhantu nagare pāṇḍavāḥ śaradāṃ śatam ||
Vaiśampāyana sprach: „Wenn wir wahrhaft Almosen gegeben haben, wenn wir die Opfergaben ordnungsgemäß dargebracht haben und wenn uns noch irgendein Verdienst der Askese geblieben ist, dann sollen kraft dieser angesammelten Tugend die Pāṇḍavas hundert Herbste lang in dieser Stadt wohnen.“
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse links ethical and ritual conduct—charity (dāna), sacrificial offering (homa), and austerity (tapas)—to the generation of puṇya (merit), which is then invoked as a moral-spiritual force capable of securing welfare and stability for others.
The narrator Vaiśampāyana reports a benedictive utterance: the speaker appeals to whatever merit has been accumulated through giving, offerings, and austerity, and uses it as a vow-like blessing that the Pāṇḍavas may remain safely in the city for a long, auspicious span—‘a hundred autumns’ (i.e., a hundred years).