Shloka 47
The Greatness of Bathing in the Ganges
Gaṅgā-snānā-mahātmya
ये मदीयांशुसंतप्ते जले ते स्नांति जाह्नवि । ते भित्वा मंडलं यांति मोक्षं चेति रवेर्वचः ॥ ४७ ॥
ye madīyāṃśusaṃtapte jale te snāṃti jāhnavi | te bhitvā maṃḍalaṃ yāṃti mokṣaṃ ceti ravervacaḥ || 47 ||
Those who bathe in the Jahnavī (Gaṅgā) in waters warmed by my rays—breaking through the solar sphere, they attain mokṣa, liberation. Thus is the word of Ravi (the Sun).
Ravi (Surya), quoted within the Narada Purana narration
Vrata: none
Primary Rasa: adbhuta
Secondary Rasa: bhakti
FAQs
It elevates Jahnavī (Gaṅgā) bathing—especially at the auspicious time when the Sun’s rays warm the waters—as a moksha-oriented tirtha practice, symbolically transcending the solar sphere and worldly bondage.
While not naming a deity directly, it frames a tirtha act (snāna in Gaṅgā) as a sacred, faith-driven practice; in Narada Purana’s tirtha-mahātmyas, such acts are typically performed with devotion, purity, and remembrance, culminating in liberation.
It implicitly relies on Jyotiṣa (Vedic astrology/astronomy) and ritual timing—linking spiritual merit to the Sun’s influence (rays warming the water), a common Narada Purana pattern for defining auspicious conditions for rites.