Shloka 20
Gaṅgādvāra-tīrtha, Ulūpī-saṃvāda, and Arjuna’s Dharma-Deliberation (गङ्गाद्वार-तीर्थम्, उलूपी-संवादः)
यदि दत्तं यदि हुतं विद्यते यदि नस्तपः । तेन तिष्ठन्तु नगरे पाण्डवा: शरदां शतम्,यदि हमने दान और होम किया है, यदि हमारी तपस्या शेष है तो उन सबके पुण्यसे ये पाण्डव सौ वर्षतक इसी नगरमें निवास करें”
vaiśampāyana uvāca | yadi dattaṃ yadi hutaṃ vidyate yadi nas tapaḥ | tena tiṣṭhantu nagare pāṇḍavāḥ śaradāṃ śatam ||
Vaiśampāyana dit : « Si vraiment nous avons fait l’aumône, si nous avons offert comme il se doit les oblations, et s’il nous reste quelque mérite d’austérité, alors, par la puissance de cette vertu amassée, que les Pāṇḍava demeurent dans cette cité durant cent automnes. »
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse links ethical and ritual conduct—charity (dāna), sacrificial offering (homa), and austerity (tapas)—to the generation of puṇya (merit), which is then invoked as a moral-spiritual force capable of securing welfare and stability for others.
The narrator Vaiśampāyana reports a benedictive utterance: the speaker appeals to whatever merit has been accumulated through giving, offerings, and austerity, and uses it as a vow-like blessing that the Pāṇḍavas may remain safely in the city for a long, auspicious span—‘a hundred autumns’ (i.e., a hundred years).