Shloka 20
घृतकुल्याश्व दध्नश्न नद्यो बहुशतास्तथा । व्यज्जनानां प्रवाहाश्न महार्हाणां सहस्रश:,राजन! यहाँ राजा गयने बड़ा भारी यज्ञ किया था। उसमें बहुत अन्न खर्च हुआ था और असंख्य दक्षिणा बाँटी गयी थी। उस यज्ञमें अन्नके सैकड़ों और हजारों पर्वत लग गये थे। घीके कई सौ कुण्ड और दहीकी नदियाँ बहती थीं। सहस्रों प्रकारके उत्तमोत्तम व्यज्जनोंकी बाढ़-सी आ गयी थी
ghṛtakulyāś ca dadhnaś ca nadyō bahuśatās tathā | vyañjanānāṁ pravāhāś ca mahārhāṇāṁ sahasraśaḥ ||
Śamaṭha said: “In that great royal sacrifice, provisions were poured out in astonishing abundance—hundreds of streams of ghee, rivers of curds, and torrents of costly delicacies in their thousands. The scene proclaimed the king’s vast generosity and the scale of his ritual merit.”
शमठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the dharmic ideal of lavish giving in a yajña—abundance offered for ritual and hospitality—while implicitly cautioning that immense prosperity and display are morally meaningful only when aligned with righteous intent and restraint.
Śamaṭha describes an extraordinary sacrifice where food and offerings are so plentiful that they are pictured as flowing like waterways: channels of ghee, rivers of curds, and floods of expensive prepared dishes, emphasizing the scale of the king’s ritual and largesse.