Shloka 226
Gālava’s Eastern Ascent with Garuḍa; Counsel on Kāla and Upāya (उद्योगपर्व, अध्याय ११०)
उशीरबीजे विप्रर्षे यत्र जाम्बूनदं सर: । यहीं विद्युत्प्रभा नामसे प्रसिद्ध दस अप्सराएँ उत्पन्न हुई थीं। ब्रह्मन्! त्रिलोकीको नापते समय भगवान् विष्णुने इसी दिशामें अपना चरण रखा था। उत्तर दिशामें भगवान् विष्णुका वह चरणचिह्न (हरिकी पैंड़ी) आज भी मौजूद है। द्विजश्रेष्ठ! ब्रह्मर्ष! उत्तर-दिशाके ही उशीरबीज नामक स्थानमें
uśīrabīje viprarṣe yatra jāmbūnadaṃ saraḥ | yatrāpsarā daśa vidyutprabhā-nāmāsu prasiddhā utpannāḥ | brahman trilokīṃ nāpayataḥ samaye bhagavān viṣṇur asyāṃ diśi pādaṃ nyadhāt | uttaradiśi tasya viṣṇoḥ pādacihnaṃ (harikī paiṇḍī) adyāpi vidyate | dvijaśreṣṭha brahmarṣe uttaradiśasyaiva uśīrabīja-nāmni deśe yatra suvarṇamayaṃ saraḥ rājā marutto yajñaṃ cakāra |
Yuparṇa said: “O best of Brahmins, O seer! In the region called Uśīrabīja there lies a lake of Jāmbūnada-gold. There, ten celebrated apsarases named Vidyutprabhā were born. O Brahmin, when Lord Viṣṇu measured the three worlds, it was in this very direction that He set down His foot. In the northern quarter, that footprint of Viṣṇu—known as Harikī Paiṇḍī—still remains even today. O foremost twice-born, O brahmarṣi! In that same northern land called Uśīrabīja, where the golden lake is found, King Marutta once performed a great sacrifice.”
युपर्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage links dharmic action and sacred space: divine acts (Viṣṇu’s cosmic stride) and exemplary human rites (Marutta’s yajña) sanctify geography, encouraging reverence for places associated with devotion, sacrifice, and remembrance of the divine.
Yuparṇa describes a northern sacred region called Uśīrabīja: a golden lake, the origin of ten apsarases named Vidyutprabhā, the still-visible footprint of Viṣṇu from His world-measuring stride, and the site where King Marutta performed a great sacrifice.