Shloka 21
The Account of the Fruits of Bathing at Particular Sacred Places
Tīrtha-viśeṣa-snāna-phala
ज्येष्ठे मासि क्षितिसुतदिने शुक्लपक्षे दशम्यां हस्ते शैलादवतरदसौ जाह्नवी मर्त्यलोकम् । पापान्यस्यां हरति हि तिथौ सा दशैषाद्यगंगा पुण्यं दद्यादपि शतगुणं वाजिमेधक्रतोश्च ॥ २१ ॥
jyeṣṭhe māsi kṣitisutadine śuklapakṣe daśamyāṃ haste śailādavataradasau jāhnavī martyalokam | pāpānyasyāṃ harati hi tithau sā daśaiṣādyagaṃgā puṇyaṃ dadyādapi śataguṇaṃ vājimedhakratośca || 21 ||
In the month of Jyeṣṭha, on Maṅgala’s day (the Earth’s son), in the bright fortnight on the tenth tithi, when the Moon is in the nakṣatra Hasta, Jāhnavī—Gaṅgā—descended from the mountain into the world of mortals. On this very tithi she truly removes sins; and this ‘first’ Gaṅgā-daśamī bestows merit even a hundredfold beyond the Vājimedha sacrifice.
Suta (narrating the Tirtha-mahatmya of Gaṅgā within Uttara-bhāga)
Vrata: Gaṅgā-daśamī
Primary Rasa: adbhuta
Secondary Rasa: shanta
FAQs
It identifies Gaṅgā-daśamī in Jyeṣṭha (Śukla Daśamī, Hasta nakṣatra, Maṅgala-vāra) as the commemorative descent-time of Gaṅgā, declaring that bathing/observance on this tithi destroys sins and yields exceptionally high merit.
By glorifying Gaṅgā as a sin-removing sacred presence and prescribing reverent timing-based observance, it frames devotion as practical śraddhā expressed through tīrtha-sevā—honoring the divine through pilgrimage, remembrance, and ritual purity.
Jyotiṣa (Vedic astrology/calendar science): it specifies the month (Jyeṣṭha), pakṣa (Śukla), tithi (Daśamī), nakṣatra (Hasta), and weekday linked to Maṅgala—showing how dharma is coordinated with precise calendrical markers.