Shloka 63
सरस्वतीतीर्थानुक्रमः — बलरामस्य तीर्थयात्रा
Sarasvatī Tīrtha Itinerary — Balarāma’s Pilgrimage
एतदाचक्ष्व मे ब्रह्मन् श्रोतव्यं यदि मन्यसे । जनमेजयने पूछा--ब्रह्मन! उदपान तीर्थ कैसे हुआ? वे महातपस्वी त्रितमुनि उसमें कैसे गिर पड़े और द्विजश्रेष्ठ उनके दोनों भाइयोंने उन्हें क्यों वहीं छोड़ दिया था? क्या कारण था, जिससे वे दोनों भाई उन्हें कुएँमें ही त्यागकर घर चले गये थे? वहाँ रहकर उन्होंने यज्ञ और सोमपान कैसे किया? ब्रह्मन! यदि यह प्रसंग मेरे सुननेयोग्य समझें तो अवश्य मुझे बतावें
etad ācakṣva me brahman śrotavyaṃ yadi manyase | janamejaya uvāca |
Janamejaya said: “O Brahmin, if you deem it fit to be heard, tell me this. How did that well become a sacred ford (tīrtha)? How did the great ascetic Trita fall into it, and why did his two brothers—best among the twice-born—abandon him there? For what reason did they leave him in the well and return home? And while dwelling there, how did he perform sacrifice (yajña) and drink Soma? If you consider this episode worthy of my hearing, please relate it to me.”
जनमेजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a dharmic inquiry: sacredness (tīrtha) is tied to extraordinary endurance and ritual integrity. It also raises an ethical problem—how kin can fail in duty—inviting reflection on betrayal versus steadfastness in dharma.
King Janamejaya asks the Brahmin narrator to explain the backstory of a well that became a tīrtha: how the ascetic Trita fell into it, why his two brothers left him there, and how Trita could still perform sacrifice and partake of Soma while trapped.