Shloka 48
Brāhmaṇya-प्रश्नः — The Inquiry into Attaining Brāhmaṇya
Mataṅga–Gardabhī Itihāsa
महाह्द उपस्पृश्य शुद्धेन मनसा नर: । एकमासं निराहारो जमदग्निगतिं लभेत्,महाहृदमें स्नान करके यदि मनुष्य शुद्ध चित्तसे वहाँ एक मासतक निराहार रहे तो उसे जमदग्निके समान सदगति प्राप्त होती है
mahāhṛdam upaspṛśya śuddhena manasā naraḥ | ekamāsaṃ nirāhāro jamadagnigatiṃ labhet ||
Having bathed in the Great Lake (Mahāhṛda) with a purified mind, if a person remains there for one month without food, he attains a blessed destiny comparable to that of Jamadagni.
अजड्रिय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that pilgrimage becomes spiritually effective when joined with inner purity and disciplined austerity; a month-long fast at the sacred Mahāhṛda, undertaken with a clean mind, is said to yield an exalted posthumous or spiritual destiny like that of Jamadagni.
In the context of Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction on dharma and sacred observances, the speaker describes the merit of a specific tīrtha-practice: bathing at Mahāhṛda and observing a month of fasting there, which is praised as conferring exceptional spiritual reward.