Adhyaya 18

Jaimini asks Vyāsa for a concise account of the greatness of the supreme tīrtha. Vyāsa, followed by purāṇic narration, extols Puruṣottama-kṣetra on the shore of the salt ocean as rarer than heaven and unsurpassed in sanctity. The chapter teaches divine immanence: entry into the kṣetra makes beings “Viṣṇu-like,” and thus fault-finding is discouraged. The local food is praised as prasāda—prepared by Lakṣmī and partaken of by Hari—able to destroy sin and ease the way to liberation. It lists the sacred waters—Indradyumna, Mārkaṇḍeya, Rohiṇī, Śvetagaṅgā, and the ocean—and declares that snāna, pitṛ-tarpaṇa, dāna, japa, yajña, and Viṣṇu-pūjā performed there yield imperishable merit. Darśana of Jagannātha, Balabhadra, and Subhadrā—especially during the Guṇḍikā-yātrā and calendrical festivals—bestows mokṣa and worldly boons, concluding that Puruṣottama is foremost among all tīrthas for crossing saṃsāra.