Shloka 19
Adhyāya 32: Tāpasānāṃ Darśanaṃ — Ascetics Seek to Identify the Pāṇḍavas
या या: पतिकृतान् लोका- निच्छन्ति परमस्त्रिय: । ता जाह्ववीजल क्षिप्र- मवगाहन्त्वतन्द्रिता:
yā yāḥ patikṛtān lokān icchanti paramastriyaḥ | tā jāhnavī-jala kṣipram avagāhantv atandritāḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “O noble ladies, whichever among you—supremely virtuous women—desire to attain the worlds won by your husbands, let them, without indolence, quickly immerse themselves in the waters of the Jāhnavī.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents a dharmic ideal of unwavering marital fidelity and purposeful resolve: those who seek the posthumous realm associated with their husbands should act promptly and without lethargy, treating the transition as a disciplined, faith-grounded passage.
Vaiśampāyana reports an instruction addressed to the virtuous widowed women: if they wish to reach the realms attained by their husbands, they should immediately immerse in the waters of the Jāhnavī (Gaṅgā), marking a solemn transition within the Ashramavāsika narrative of endings and departures.