Shloka 143
Tīrtha-yātrā: Phalaśruti and Sacred Geography from Lohitya to Prayāga
Pulastya’s Instruction
अज्ञानाजज्ञानतो वापि स्त्रिया वा पुरुषेण वा । यत् किंचिदशुभं कर्म कृतं मानुषबुद्धिना,भारत! स्त्री हो या पुरुष, उसने मानव-बुद्धिसे अनजानमें या जान-बूझकर जो कुछ भी पापकर्म किया है, वह सब पृथूदकतीर्थमें स्नान करनेमात्रसे नष्ट हो जाता है और तीर्थसेवी पुरुषको अश्वमेधयज्ञके फल एवं स्वर्गलोककी प्राप्ति होती है
ajñānāj jñānato vāpi striyā vā puruṣeṇa vā | yat kiñcid aśubhaṃ karma kṛtaṃ mānuṣa-buddhinā, bhārata! strī ho yā puruṣa, usne mānuṣa-buddhi se anjān meṃ yā jān-būjhkar jo kuch bhī pāpa-karma kiyā hai, vah sab pṛthūdaka-tīrtha meṃ snān karne-mātra se naṣṭ ho jātā hai aura tīrtha-sevī puruṣ ko aśvamedha-yajña ke phal evaṃ svarga-loka kī prāpti hotī hai
Ghūlastya said: “O Bhārata, whether done in ignorance or knowingly—by a woman or by a man—whatever unwholesome deed a person commits through human frailty is destroyed merely by bathing at the sacred ford of Pṛthūdaka. And the one who serves this tīrtha gains the merit of an Aśvamedha sacrifice and attains the heavenly world.”
घुलस्त्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches the purificatory power attributed to tīrtha-bathing and tīrtha-service: even morally harmful actions—whether committed knowingly or unknowingly, by anyone—are said to be cleansed at Pṛthūdaka, and devoted pilgrimage yields extraordinary merit comparable to an Aśvamedha and leads to heaven.
In the Vana Parva’s tīrtha-yātrā context, the speaker Ghūlastya praises the sanctity of the Pṛthūdaka pilgrimage site, describing its capacity to remove sin through bathing and to grant high sacrificial merit and heavenly attainment to those who serve the sacred place.