Shloka 10

उपवासफलात्मकविधिः — Upavāsa as Yajña-Equivalent Merit

Angiras Teaching

Devanagari script

प्रश्रमेतं मया पृष्टो भगवानग्निसम्भव: । उपवासविधिं पुण्यमाचष्ट भरतर्षभ,भरतभूषण! जब मैंने यह प्रश्न पूछा, तब अग्निनन्दन भगवान्‌ अंगिराने मुझे उपवासकी पवित्र विधि इस प्रकार बतायी

Transliteration

praśrametaṁ mayā pṛṣṭo bhagavān agni-sambhavaḥ | upavāsa-vidhiṁ puṇyam ācaṣṭa bharatarṣabha ||

Translation

Bhishma sprach: „Als ich ihm diese Frage stellte, erklärte mir der ehrwürdige Weise, aus dem Feuer geboren, das heilige Verfahren des Fastens, o Stier unter den Bharatas.“

Word by Word

• {'praśrametam': 'this question/inquiry (accusative

• ‘this matter asked’)', 'mayā': 'by me', 'pṛṣṭaḥ': 'asked, questioned', 'bhagavān': 'the venerable one

• revered sage', 'agni-sambhavaḥ': 'born of Agni (Fire)

• epithet of a sage', 'upavāsa': 'fasting

• religious abstinence', 'vidhi': 'rule, procedure, prescribed method', 'puṇyam': 'meritorious, sacred, purifying', 'ācaṣṭa': 'told, explained, declared', 'bharatarṣabha': 'O best of the Bharatas (honorific address)'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma
• Agni-sambhava (a sage described as ‘born of Fire’)
• Bharatarshabha (addressee: a Bharata prince, typically Yudhishthira)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

That fasting (upavāsa), when performed according to prescribed rules (vidhi), is a sacred and merit-producing discipline; Bhishma frames it as authoritative instruction received from a revered sage.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhishma, speaking to the Bharata prince, recalls that he once asked a question, and the venerable ‘Agni-born’ sage responded by teaching him the proper, purifying method of fasting.