Shloka 38
युधिष्ठिरस्य अर्जुनप्रेषण-युक्तिवर्णनम् | Yudhiṣṭhira’s Rationale for Sending Arjuna and Request to Dhaumya
गड़ायाशक्षु नरश्रेष्ठ सरस्वत्याश्न॒ संगमे । स््नात्वाश्नमेधं प्राप्नोति स्वर्गलोकं॑ च गच्छति,नरश्रेष्ठ) गंगा और सरस्वतीके संगममें स्नान करनेसे मनुष्य अश्वमेधयज्ञका फल पाता और स्वर्ग-लोकमें जाता है
gaṅgāyāḥ śakṣu naraśreṣṭha sarasvatyāś ca saṅgame | snātvāśvamedhaṁ prāpnoti svargalokaṁ ca gacchati ||
Ghūlastya said: “O best of men, one who bathes at Śakṣu—at the confluence of the Gaṅgā and the Sarasvatī—obtains the merit of an Aśvamedha sacrifice and thereafter goes to the heavenly world.”
घुलस्त्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches the Mahābhārata’s tīrtha-ethic: sincere pilgrimage and ritual bathing at a sanctified confluence can confer extraordinary spiritual merit—here equated with the fruit of the grand Aśvamedha—emphasizing purification, faith, and dharmic conduct over mere worldly power.
In the context of the Vana Parva’s tīrtha-yātrā discourse, the speaker Ghūlastya describes the spiritual potency of a specific sacred site—Śakṣu, the confluence of the Gaṅgā and Sarasvatī—stating the reward gained by bathing there.