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Shloka 21

Brāhmaṇya-प्रश्नः — The Inquiry into Attaining Brāhmaṇya

Mataṅga–Gardabhī Itihāsa

देविकायामुपस्पृश्य तथा सुन्दरिकाहदे । अश्रिन्यां रूपवर्चस्कं प्रेत्य वै लभते नर:,देविकामें स्नान करके सुन्दरिकाकुण्ड और अश्विनीतीर्थमें स्नान करनेपर मृत्युके पश्चात्‌ दूसरे जन्ममें मनुष्यको रूप और तेजकी प्राप्ति होती है

devikāyām upaspṛśya tathā sundarikā-hrade | aśvinyāṁ rūpa-varcaskaṁ pretya vai labhate naraḥ ||

Ajadriya said: Having performed the purificatory bath at Devikā, and likewise in the lake of Sundarikā and at the sacred ford of Aśvinī, a man, after death and in a later birth, indeed attains beauty of form and radiant splendor.

देविकायाम्in/at Devikā (tīrtha)
देविकायाम्:
Adhikarana
TypeNoun
Rootदेविका
FormFeminine, Locative, Singular
उपस्पृश्यhaving bathed (performed ablution)
उपस्पृश्य:
TypeVerb
Rootउपस्पृश्
Formल्यप् (absolutive/gerund), Parasmaipada (usage), Prior action (having bathed/touched water)
तथाand likewise
तथा:
TypeIndeclinable
Rootतथा
सुन्दरिकाहदेin/at the Sundarikā lake (hrada)
सुन्दरिकाहदे:
Adhikarana
TypeNoun
Rootसुन्दरिकाह्रद
FormMasculine, Locative, Singular
अश्विन्याम्in/at Aśvinī (tīrtha)
अश्विन्याम्:
Adhikarana
TypeNoun
Rootअश्विनी
FormFeminine, Locative, Singular
रूपवर्चस्कम्beauty and radiance
रूपवर्चस्कम्:
Karma
TypeNoun
Rootरूपवर्चस्
FormNeuter, Accusative, Singular
प्रेत्यafter death; having departed
प्रेत्य:
TypeVerb
Rootप्र-इ
Formल्यप् (absolutive/gerund), Prior action (having departed/died)
वैindeed
वै:
TypeIndeclinable
Rootवै
लभतेobtains
लभते:
TypeVerb
Rootलभ्
FormLat (Present), Atmanepada, Third, Singular
नरःa man
नरः:
Karta
TypeNoun
Rootनर
FormMasculine, Nominative, Singular

अजड्रिय उवाच

A
Ajadriya
D
Devikā
S
Sundarikā-hrada (lake of Sundarikā)
A
Aśvinī-tīrtha
A
Aśvins (implied by the name Aśvinī)

Educational Q&A

The verse teaches that disciplined purity-practices—especially bathing at revered tīrthas—are treated as dharmic acts whose karmic fruit is described as auspicious personal qualities (beauty and radiance) in a future birth, reinforcing the ethic of reverence, self-purification, and faith in moral causality.

A speaker named Ajadriya is listing specific sacred bathing places (Devikā, the lake of Sundarikā, and Aśvinī-tīrtha) and stating the promised result of bathing there: after death, the pilgrim is reborn with enhanced beauty and splendor.