Shloka 22
Draupadī’s Instruction on Marital Conduct and Household Discipline (चित्तग्रहण-उपदेश)
सिन्धुनदं पञजचनदं देविकाथ सरस्वती । गड़ा च शतकुम्भा च सरयूर्गण्डसाह्दया
Mārkaṇḍeya uvāca: Sindhunadaṃ Pañcanadaṃ Devikātha Sarasvatī | Gaṅgā ca Śatakumbhā ca Sarayūr Gaṇḍasāhdayā | Etā nadyas tu dhiṣṇyānāṃ mātaro yāḥ prakīrtitāḥ ||
Mārkaṇḍeya berkata: “Sindhu, Pañcanada, Devikā, dan Sarasvatī; Gaṅgā dan Śatakumbhā; Sarayū dan Gaṇḍakī—sungai-sungai inilah yang dipuji sebagai ‘para ibu’ dari dhiṣṇya, sumber tempat api-ritual dikatakan berawal.”
मार्कण्डेय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse links sacred geography to Vedic ritual: certain rivers are revered as ‘mothers’ (sources) of the ritual hearths/fires, implying that purity, right worship, and dharma are supported by honoring sanctified natural and ritual foundations.
Mārkaṇḍeya is enumerating holy rivers and explaining their ritual significance—specifically, that they are traditionally proclaimed as the originating ‘mothers’ of the dhiṣṇyas (sacred fire-stations) used in Vedic rites.