Shloka 4
Lomaśa’s Arrival and Report on Arjuna’s Divine Astras (लोमशागमनम्—अर्जुनदिव्यास्त्रलाभवृत्तान्तः)
नर्मदायां कुरुश्रेष्ठ सह सिद्धर्षिचारणै: । स्नातुमायान्ति पुण्यौचै: सदा वारिषु भारत,भरतनन्दन कुरुश्रेष्ठ! त्रिलोकीमें जो-जो पुण्यतीर्थ, मन्दिर, नदी, वन, पर्वत, ब्रह्मा आदि देवता, सिद्ध, ऋषि, चारण एवं पुण्यात्माओंके समूह हैं, वे सब सदा नर्मदाके जलमें स्नान करनेके लिये आया करते हैं
narmadāyāṃ kuruśreṣṭha saha siddharṣicāraṇaiḥ | snātum āyānti puṇyaucchaiḥ sadā vāriṣu bhārata ||
Dhaumya said: “O best of the Kurus, O Bhārata, the exalted holy ones—Siddhas, Ṛṣis, and Cāraṇas—continually come to the waters of the Narmadā to bathe. Thus the river is upheld as a supremely purifying tīrtha, drawing the spiritually accomplished and reminding a seeker that purity and merit are strengthened by reverent contact with sacred places and disciplined practice.”
धौम्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Sacred places (tīrthas) are upheld by the presence and practice of spiritually accomplished beings; reverent bathing and disciplined conduct at such sites are presented as means of purification and accumulation of merit (puṇya), reinforcing dharmic life during hardship.
Dhaumya addresses Yudhiṣṭhira (as ‘Kuruśreṣṭha’ and ‘Bhārata’) while describing the Narmadā as a continually visited holy river where Siddhas, Ṛṣis, and Cāraṇas come to bathe, thereby praising its tīrtha-status within the pilgrimage discourse of the Vana Parva.