Shloka 26
Plakṣaprasravaṇa–Kārapacana tīrtha-varṇana and Nārada’s war briefing (Śalya-parva, Adhyāya 53)
“यह महान् पुण्यप्रद, कल्याणकारी, देवताओंका प्रिय एवं सर्वगुणसम्पन्न तीर्थ है। अतः यहाँ रणभूमिमें मारे गये सम्पूर्ण नरेश सदा पुण्यमयी अक्षय गति प्राप्त करेंगे' ।। इत्युवाच स्वयं शक्र: सह ब्रह्मादिभिस्तदा । तच्चानुमोदितं सर्व ब्रह्मविष्णुमहेश्वरै:,ब्रह्मा आदि देवताओंसहित साक्षात् इन्द्रने ऐसी बातें कही थीं तथा ब्रह्मा, विष्णु और महादेवजीने इन सारी बातोंका अनुमोदन किया था
idaṁ mahān puṇyapradaṁ kalyāṇakārī devatānāṁ priyaṁ ca sarvaguṇasampannaṁ tīrtham | ataḥ iha raṇabhūmau māritāḥ samagrā nṛpāḥ sadā puṇyamayīm akṣayāṁ gatiṁ prāpsyanti iti || ity uvāca svayaṁ śakraḥ saha brahmādibhis tadā | tac cānumoditaṁ sarvaṁ brahma-viṣṇu-maheśvaraiḥ ||
“This is a great sacred ford that bestows merit, brings welfare, is dear to the gods, and is endowed with every excellence. Therefore, all the kings who have been slain here on the battlefield will surely attain an imperishable, merit-filled destiny.” Thus spoke Śakra (Indra) himself at that time, together with Brahmā and the other gods; and all these words were approved by Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Maheśvara. The passage frames the battlefield-tīrtha as a moral and ritual assurance: even amid the devastation of war, a sanctified locus and divine testimony are invoked to affirm an enduring spiritual outcome for the fallen.
राम उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse asserts that a sanctified tīrtha can confer enduring spiritual benefit even in the context of war: those slain on that consecrated battlefield are said to attain an imperishable, merit-filled destiny, validated by the highest gods.
Indra (Śakra), together with Brahmā and other deities, proclaims the battlefield-site to be a supremely meritorious tīrtha and declares the fate of the fallen kings; Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Maheśvara then endorse this declaration.