Shloka 50
Brāhmaṇya-प्रश्नः — The Inquiry into Attaining Brāhmaṇya
Mataṅga–Gardabhī Itihāsa
नर्मदायामुपस्पृश्य तथा शूर्पारकोदके । एकपक्षं निराहारो राजपुत्रो विधीयते,नर्मदा नदी और शूर्परिक क्षेत्रके जलमें स्नान करके एक पक्षतक निराहार रहनेवाला मनुष्य दूसरे जन्ममें राजकुमार होता है
narmadāyām upaspṛśya tathā śūrpārakodake | ekapakṣaṃ nirāhāro rājaputro vidhīyate ||
नर्मदा में तथा शूर्पारक-क्षेत्र के जल में स्नान करके जो मनुष्य एक पक्ष तक निराहार रहता है, वह अगले जन्म में राजपुत्र होता है।
अजड्रिय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that disciplined austerity (a fortnight-long fast) performed after ritual bathing at revered tīrthas (Narmadā and Śūrpāraka) generates puṇya that is believed to ripen as an elevated rebirth—specifically, birth as a prince—illustrating the Mahābhārata’s linkage of place-sanctity, vow-observance, and karmic result.
A speaker (Ajadriya) is listing tīrtha-related observances and their promised fruits. Here, he specifies a particular rite—bathing in the Narmadā and in Śūrpāraka’s waters, followed by a fortnight of fasting—and states the resulting benefit in the next life.