Shloka 46
बदरपाचन-तीर्थमाहात्म्यम् | Badarapācana Tīrtha Māhātmya
Indratīrtha and the Austerities of Srucāvatī & Arundhatī
इस प्रकार श्रीमहाभारत शल्यपर्वके अन्तर्गत गदापव॑में बलदेवजीकी तीर्थयात्रा एवं सारस्वतोपाख्यानके प्रसंगरमें तारकायुरका वधविषयक छियालीसवाँ अध्याय पूरा हुआ
Iti prakāraṁ Śrīmahābhārata-Śalyaparvaṇi antargate Gadāparvaṇi Baladevajī-kṛtā tīrthayātrā ca Sārasvatopākhyāna-prasaṅge Tārakāyur-vadha-viṣayakaḥ ṣaṭcatvāriṁśattamo 'dhyāyaḥ samāptaḥ.
Thus, in the Śalya Parva of the Mahābhārata—within the section concerning the mace—this forty-sixth chapter comes to an end, in the context of Baladeva’s pilgrimage and the Sārasvata episode, dealing with the slaying of Tārakāyu.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
As a chapter-colophon, the passage teaches how the epic frames action within sacred and ethical horizons: even accounts of killing are situated amid pilgrimage, remembered tradition (upākhyāna), and the larger pursuit of dharma, reminding the listener that events are to be interpreted through moral and ritual context, not merely as violence.
This is the formal closing statement for the forty-sixth chapter within Śalya Parva’s Gadā-related section, indicating that the ongoing context includes Baladeva’s pilgrimage and the Sārasvata episode, and that this chapter’s specific subject is the slaying of Tārakāyu.