Shloka 187
तीर्थ पुण्यतमं राजन् पावन लोकविश्रुतम् । यत्र सारस्वतो यात: सोडड्विरास्तपसो निधि:,धर्मज्ञ राजन! तदनन्तर महात्मा दधीचके लोक-विख्यात परम पुण्यमय, पावन तीर्थकी यात्रा करे। जहाँ तपस्याके भण्डार सरस्वतीपुत्र अंगिराका जन्म हुआ
tīrthaṁ puṇyatamaṁ rājan pāvanaṁ lokaviśrutam | yatra sārasvato yātaḥ ṣoḍaśavarṣa-tapo-nidhiḥ | dharmajña rājan tad-anantaraṁ mahātmā dadhīcaḥ loka-vikhyātaṁ parama-puṇyamayaṁ pāvanaṁ tīrthaṁ yayau | yatra tapasāṁ bhaṇḍāraḥ sarasvatī-putro ’ṅgirā ajāyata |
Ghūlastya said: “O King, there is a most holy ford, purifying and renowned throughout the world. It is the place where Sārasvata—treasury of austerity, famed for sixteen years of penance—once went. O righteous-knowing king, thereafter the great-souled Dadhīca undertook a pilgrimage to that celebrated, supremely meritorious, and purifying sacred place—where Aṅgiras, the son of Sarasvatī, was born, a veritable storehouse of ascetic power.”
घुलस्त्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage elevates tīrtha-yātrā (pilgrimage) and tapas as means of purification and moral refinement: sacred places are valued not merely as locations but as living memories of disciplined sages, encouraging the listener to honor dharma through self-restraint and reverence.
Ghūlastya describes to the king a world-famous, purifying pilgrimage site connected with Sārasvata’s austerities and the birth of Aṅgiras; he then notes that the great sage Dadhīca subsequently traveled to that supremely holy tīrtha.