Shloka 66
Saptasārasvata-tīrtha-prasaṅgaḥ | The Saptasārasvata Pilgrimage Account and the Maṅkaṇaka Narrative
अहिंस्र्थर्मपरमैर्नुभिरत्यर्थसेवितम् । सप्तसारस्वतं तीर्थमभाजगाम हलायुध:
vaiśampāyana uvāca | ahiṃsā-dharma-paramair nṛbhir atyartha-sevitam | sapta-sārasvataṃ tīrtham abhājagāma halāyudhaḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: Balarāma, the wielder of the plough-weapon, then came to the sacred ford called Sapta-Sārasvata, a place much frequented by people devoted to the dharma of non-violence. The verse frames the tīrtha as a moral refuge—honoured and sought out by those who uphold ahiṃsā—setting a contrast to the surrounding atmosphere of war and conflict in the wider narrative.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse elevates ahiṃsā as a defining mark of righteous conduct: the tīrtha is praised precisely because it is ‘greatly frequented’ by people devoted to non-violence, implying that sacred space is validated by ethical practice, not merely geography.
The narrator states that Balarāma (Halāyudha) arrives at the pilgrimage site Sapta-Sārasvata. This functions as a transition into a tīrtha-setting associated with peace, restraint, and religious observance, contrasting with the martial events of the Shalya Parva.