Varaha Purana 157.31: Adhyaya 157, Shloka 31
Praise of the Malayārjuna Sacred Ford and the Mathurā-Yamunā Pilgrimage Cycle
Uttara Bhāga · Efficacy of rites: benefiting ancestors and descendants
नरस्तारयते पुंसां दश पूर्वान्दशापरान् ॥ एषु स्नातो नरो देवि देवैश्च सह मोदते ॥
naras tārayate puṃsāṃ daśa pūrvān daśāparān || eṣu snāto naro devi devaiś ca saha modate ||
narastArayate puMsAM dasha pUrvAndashAparAn || eShu snAto naro devi devaishcha saha modate
एक आदमी के नहाने से उसके पहले की दस पुश्तें और बाद की दस पुश्तें, सब तर जाती हैं। देवी, इन जगहों पर नहा के आदमी देवियों के साथ खुश रहता है।
Sandhi Notes
- naras tārayate = naraḥ + tārayate (visarga sandhi)
- pūrvān daśāparān = pūrvān + daśa + aparān (daśāparān by vowel sandhi)
- devaiś ca = devaiḥ + ca
Varāha
Attentive, seeking assurance about fruits of pilgrimage
What is the measurable ancestral benefit of tīrtha-snāna, and what divine-state does it confer upon the pilgrim?
Personal dharma has transpersonal consequences; pilgrimage is not self-only but kula-oriented compassion enacted through ritual purity.
Undertake tīrtha-snāna with the explicit saṅkalpa for ancestors and descendants, integrating family welfare into spiritual practice.
Varāha assures Bhū-devī of the transgenerational salvific effect of bathing at the named tīrthas.
The ‘ten before and ten after’ frames dharma as a cosmic network across time; tīrtha acts as a conduit where individual purity radiates through genealogical continuity.
Snāna functions like dīkṣā (initiation/purification) enabling the sacrificer to ‘rejoice with the gods’—a yajña-fruit idiom transposed onto pilgrimage.
Suggests that sattva-śuddhi and īśvara-prasāda can transform not only the individual but the relational field (kula), aligning with Purāṇic ethics of interconnected karma.
Tīrtha-snāna at the prescribed sites grants uplift to ten ancestors and ten descendants and leads to divine companionship (deva-saha modate).
Observance yields lineage deliverance and heavenly rejoicing; disregard forfeits a powerful means of kula-uddhāra (family uplift).
Indirect: Vraja/Mathurā tīrtha culture later becomes central to Kṛṣṇa-bhakti pilgrimage, though the verse frames it in general deva-sāyujya-like rejoicing.
Adjacent Varāha Purāṇa verses describing specific tīrthas and their fruits in the Mathurā-māhātmya sequence
FAQs
It illustrates a common Purāṇic social imagination: ritual acts at tīrthas are narrated as benefiting extended lineage, indicating the text’s role in shaping collective memory and practice.
The verse refers back to the set of sites already described in the chapter (the tīrtha cluster in the Mathurā-region narrative).
Intergenerational responsibility: actions are framed as having consequences for ancestors and descendants, encouraging care, continuity, and charitable conduct.
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