Shloka 76
युधिष्ठिरस्य अर्जुनप्रेषण-युक्तिवर्णनम् | Yudhiṣṭhira’s Rationale for Sending Arjuna and Request to Dhaumya
भरतकुलभूषण! वहीं शतसाहस्रकतीर्थ है। उसमें स्नान करके नियमपालनपूर्वक नियमित भोजन करते हुए मनुष्य सहस्र गोदानका पुण्यफल प्राप्त करता है ।।
bharatakula-bhūṣaṇa! vahāṁ śata-sāhasraka-tīrthaḥ. tatra snātvā niyama-pālana-pūrvakaṁ niyamita-bhojanaṁ kurvan manuṣyaḥ sahasra-go-dānasya puṇya-phalaṁ prāpnoti. tato gacchet rājendra bhartṛ-sthānam anuttamam. aśvamedhasya yajñasya phalaṁ prāpnoti mānavaḥ.
O ornament of the Bharata lineage! There is a sacred ford known as Śata-sāhasraka. By bathing there, and then observing disciplines—living with restraint and taking regulated food—a person gains the merit equivalent to gifting a thousand cows. From there, O best of kings, one should proceed to the unsurpassed Bhartṛ-sthāna; by going there a human being attains the fruit of the Aśvamedha sacrifice.
घुलस्त्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Sacred places yield their promised merit when approached with ethical discipline: bathing (external purity) is paired with niyama—restraint, observances, and regulated eating (internal discipline). The verse links pilgrimage to moral self-governance rather than mere travel.
A speaker guides a king (addressed as ‘ornament of the Bharatas’ and ‘best of kings’) through a sequence of tīrthas: first Śata-sāhasraka, where bathing and disciplined living grant the merit of a thousand cow-gifts, and then Bhartṛ-sthāna, whose visit grants the fruit of the Aśvamedha sacrifice.