Shloka 85
Pulastya’s Tīrtha Enumeration: Sarasvatī, Naimiṣa, Gayā, and Associated Phalaśruti
Chapter 82
देव्या: पुत्रो भवेद् राज॑स्तप्तकुण्डलविग्रह: । गवां शतसहस्रस्य फल प्राप्रोति मानव:,राजेन्द्र! वहाँसे भीमाके उत्तम स्थानकी यात्रा करे! भरतश्रेष्ठ! वहाँ योनितीर्थमें स्नान करके मनुष्य देवीका पुत्र होता है। उसकी अंगकान्ति तपाये हुए सुवर्णकुण्डलके समान होती है। राजन! उस तीर्थके सेवनसे मनुष्यको सहस्र गोदानका फल मिलता है
devyāḥ putro bhaved rājāḥ taptakuṇḍalavigrahaḥ | gavāṃ śatasahasrasya phalaṃ prāpnoti mānavaḥ ||
Ghūlastya said: 'O king, by bathing at this sacred spot a man becomes, as it were, the son of the Goddess. His bodily radiance becomes like that of heated gold ornaments. O lord of kings, by resorting to this tīrtha a person attains the religious merit equal to the gift of a hundred thousand cows.' The passage frames pilgrimage and ritual bathing as a dharmic means of purification and the acquisition of auspicious qualities, expressed through the idiom of divine affiliation and luminous splendor.
घुलस्त्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that approaching a tīrtha with faith—especially bathing there—is a dharmic act believed to purify and confer great puṇya, symbolized by becoming 'the son of the Goddess' and gaining radiant auspiciousness, with merit likened to an immense go-dāna.
A sage (Ghūlastya) is describing the spiritual benefits of a particular pilgrimage site to a king, praising the results of bathing there and equating its fruit to the merit of donating a hundred thousand cows.