Shloka 9
Avanti–Narmadā–Puṣkara Tīrtha-Kathana (धौम्यकथितं तीर्थवर्णनम्)
यदर्थे पुरुषव्याप्र कीर्तयन्ति पुरातना: । एष्टव्या बहव: पुत्रा यद्येको5पि गयां व्रजेत्,'पुरुषसिंह! उस गयाके विषयमें ही प्राचीनलोग यह कहा करते हैं कि “बहुत-से पुत्रोंकी इच्छा करनी चाहिये; सम्भव है उनमेंसे एक भी गया जाय या अश्वमेधयज्ञ करे अथवा नीलवृषका- उत्सर्ग करे। ऐसा पुरुष अपनी संततिद्वारा दस पहलेकी और दस बादकी पीढ़ियोंका उद्धार कर देता है”
Vaiśampāyana uvāca |
yadarthe puruṣavyāprāḥ kīrtayanti purātanāḥ |
eṣṭavyā bahavaḥ putrā yady eko 'pi Gayāṃ vrajet ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “O mighty man, for that very end which the men of old pursued and praised, it is said: one should desire many sons—if only one among them should go to Gayā.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the traditional dharmic idea that continuity of descendants matters because even a single dutiful offspring can perform key rites—especially at Gayā—that are believed to benefit and uplift the ancestral line.
Vaiśampāyana reports an old, widely cited saying about Gayā: people praise it as a place whose rites are so efficacious that families desire many sons in the hope that at least one will undertake the journey and perform the ancestral obligations there.