Shloka 18
Varṣa-Parvata-Nivāsinām Varnanam
Description of Regions, Mountains, and Their Inhabitants
गोमती धूतपापां च वन्दनां च महानदीम् । कौशिकीं त्रिदिवां कृत्यां निचितां लोहितारणीम्,गोमती, धूतपापा, महानदी वन्दना, कौशिकी, त्रिदिवा, कृत्या, निचिता, लोहितारणी, रहस्या, शतकुम्भा, सरयू, चर्मण्वती, वेत्रवती, हस्तिसोमा, दिकू, शरावती, पयोष्णी, वेणा, भीमरथी, कावेरी, चुलुका, वाणी और शतबला
sañjaya uvāca | gomatīṃ dhūtapāpāṃ ca vandanāṃ ca mahānadīm | kauśikīṃ tridivāṃ kṛtyāṃ nicitāṃ lohitāraṇīm |
Sañjaya said: He then invoked and remembered a succession of sacred rivers—Gomatī, Dhūtapāpā, Vandanā, the great river Mahānadī, Kauśikī, Tridivā, Kṛtyā, Nicitā, and Lohitāraṇī—whose very names are held to purify and protect. In the midst of war’s approach, this recitation frames the campaign with a moral and ritual horizon: the land is sanctified, and the listener is reminded that human action unfolds under the gaze of dharma and the purifying power of tīrthas.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even as war looms, the text foregrounds dharma through remembrance of tīrthas: sacred rivers symbolize purification, restraint, and the moral weight of actions performed on sanctified land.
Sañjaya narrates a ritualized recitation of river-names—an invocation that maps the sacred landscape and frames the unfolding conflict within a religious-ethical atmosphere.