Shloka 11
Viṣṇu-sahasranāma—Yudhiṣṭhira’s Inquiry and Bhīṣma’s Recitation (विष्णोर्नामसहस्रम्)
सिद्धचारणजुष्टानि सेवितानि महर्षिभि: । अभिषेक: समस्तेषां गवां शूड्रोदकस्य च
siddhacāraṇajuṣṭāni sevitāni maharṣibhiḥ | abhiṣekaḥ samasteṣāṃ gavāṃ śūdro(d)akasya ca ||
Bhīṣma dit : «Les tīrthas renommés dans les trois mondes—fréquentés par les Siddhas et les Cāraṇas, et visités par les grands ṛṣis—donnent, par le bain en tous ces lieux, un mérite que l’on obtient tout autant en aspergeant sa tête de l’eau qui a lavé les cornes d’une vache.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that honoring the cow—specifically by sprinkling one’s head with water associated with the cow (water that has washed the horns)—can yield the same spiritual merit as bathing at all famed tīrthas. It elevates simple, sincere dharmic acts over difficult or expansive ritual travel, stressing purity, reverence, and accessible righteousness.
In the Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction on dharma, Bhīṣma is advising Yudhiṣṭhira about religious merit and sacred practices. Here he praises the sanctity connected with cows and presents a concise rite (abhiṣeka/sprinkling) as equivalent in fruit to widespread pilgrimage to tīrthas revered by Siddhas, Cāraṇas, and great seers.