Mahabharata 9.48.58 — Shalya Parva, Adhyaya 48, Shloka 58

Indratīrtha–Ādityatīrtha: Balarāma’s Ritual Bathing, Dāna, and Sacred-Historical Recollections

Devanagari script

यस्त्वेकां रजनीं तीर्थ वत्स्यते सुसमाहित:

Transliteration

yas tv ekāṁ rajanīṁ tīrthe vatsyate susamāhitaḥ

Translation

Vaiśampāyana said: “But whoever, with steady and collected mind, stays for a single night at the sacred ford (tīrtha)…”

Word by Word

• यः: who
• यः: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: यद्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• तु: but/indeed
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तु

• एकाम्: one (single)
• एकाम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: एक
• Form: Feminine, Accusative, Singular

• रजनीम्: night
• रजनीम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: रजनी
• Form: Feminine, Accusative, Singular

• तीर्थे: at a sacred ford/pilgrimage place
• तीर्थे: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: तीर्थ
• Form: Neuter, Locative, Singular

• वत्स्यते: will dwell/stay
• Type: Verb
• Root: वस्
• Form: Simple Future (Luṭ), Third, Singular, Ātmanepada

• सुसमाहितः: well-composed, fully attentive
• सुसमाहितः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सु-समाहित
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• tīrtha (sacred ford/pilgrimage place)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Even a brief stay at a tīrtha, when undertaken with genuine mental discipline and focused intention (susamāhita), is presented as spiritually efficacious—emphasizing inner disposition over mere duration.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana is describing the merit connected with pilgrimage practice, introducing a conditional statement about a person who spends a single night at a sacred place with concentrated mind; the verse functions as the opening of a longer result (phala) statement continued in subsequent lines.