Shloka 23
Draupadī’s Instruction on Marital Conduct and Household Discipline (चित्तग्रहण-उपदेश)
चर्मण्वती मही चैव मेध्या मेधातिथिस्तदा । ताम्रवती वेत्रवती नद्यस्तिस्रो5<थ कौशिकी
Carmaṇvatī mahī caiva medhyā Medhātithis tadā | Tāmravatī Vetravatī nadyas tisro 'tha Kauśikī ||
Mārkaṇḍeya said: “There were also the rivers Carmaṇvatī and Mahī; and then Medhyā and Medhātithi. Likewise Tāmravatī and Vetravatī—three rivers—and then the Kauśikī as well.” In this passage, the sage continues a careful cataloguing of sacred geography, implying that the land’s moral and ritual life is sustained by these life-giving waters and the remembered names attached to them.
मार्कण्डेय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse reinforces the Mahābhārata’s tirtha-oriented ethic: rivers are not merely physical features but carriers of purity, memory, and dharmic culture; naming them preserves a sacred map that guides righteous travel, ritual cleansing, and reverence for the land.
Mārkaṇḍeya continues a sequential listing of rivers—Carmaṇvatī, Mahī, Medhyā, Medhātithi, Tāmravatī, Vetravatī, and Kauśikī—within a broader descriptive catalogue typical of Vana Parva’s pilgrimage and sacred-geography sections.