Shloka 63

Devanagari script

प्रभासते यथा सोम: सो<श्चमेधं च विन्दति । वरदान ततो गच्छेत्‌ तीर्थ भरतसत्तम,ऐसा करनेवाला यात्री चन्द्रमाके समान प्रकाशित होता है। साथ ही उसे अश्वमेधयज्ञका फल मिलता है। भरतश्रेष्ठ! वहाँसे वरदानतीर्थमें जाय

Transliteration

prabhāsate yathā somaḥ so ’śvamedhaṃ ca vindati | varadānaṃ tato gacchet tīrtha bharatasattama |

Translation

One who performs this observance shines with radiance like the Moon, and he also gains the merit equivalent to an Aśvamedha sacrifice. O best of the Bharatas, from there he should proceed to the sacred ford called Varadāna—thus the speaker directs the pilgrim onward, presenting tīrtha-journeying as an ethical discipline that purifies conduct and yields exalted spiritual reward.

Word by Word

प्रभासतेshines, appears radiant

यथाas, just as

सोमःthe Moon

सःhe, that person

अश्वमेधम्the Aśvamedha (horse-sacrifice)

चand

विन्दतिfinds, obtains

वरदानात्from Varadāna (tīrtha)

ततःthen, from there

गच्छेत्should go

तीर्थम्to the sacred ford/pilgrimage place

भरतसत्तमO best of the Bharatas

Speaker

घुलस्त्य उवाच

Characters & Entities

Soma (the Moon)

Aśvamedha (horse-sacrifice)

Varadāna-tīrtha

Bharatas (as a lineage addressed: bharatasattama)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Pilgrimage and prescribed observances at tīrthas are portrayed as powerful dharmic disciplines: they purify the practitioner and can confer merit likened to the highest Vedic sacrifices, symbolized here by the Aśvamedha and the Moon-like radiance.

What is happening in the narrative?

The speaker (Ghūlastya) is guiding the listener through a sequence of sacred places: after describing the fruit of a particular practice, he instructs that the pilgrim should next go from there to the tīrtha named Varadāna.