Shloka 99
Tīrtha-yātrā: Phalaśruti and Sacred Geography from Lohitya to Prayāga
Pulastya’s Instruction
गच्छेत परमां सिद्धिमृणैर्मुक्त: कुरूद्वह । वेदीतीर्थ नर: स्नात्वा गोसहस्रफलं लभेत्,किंदत्त नामक कूपके समीप जाकर एक प्रस्थ अर्थात् सोलह मुट्ठी तिल दान करे। कुरुश्रेष्ट! ऐसा करनेसे मनुष्य तीनों ऋणोंसे मुक्त हो परम सिद्धिको प्राप्त होता है। वेदीतीर्थमें स्नान करनेसे मनुष्य सहस्र गोदानका फल पाता है
ghulastya uvāca | gacchet paramāṃ siddhim ṛṇair muktaḥ kurūdvahe | vedītīrthaṃ naraḥ snātvā gosahasraphalaṃ labhet | kiṃdatta-nāmaka-kūpake samīpaṃ gatvā eka-prasthaṃ (ṣoḍaśa-muṣṭi) tilaṃ dadyāt | kurūśreṣṭha, evaṃ kṛtvā manuṣyaḥ tribhir ṛṇaiḥ muktaḥ san paramāṃ siddhiṃ prāpnoti | vedītīrthe snānena ca sahasra-go-dānasya phalaṃ labhate ||
Ghulastya said: “O best of the Kurus, one who becomes free from debts attains the highest spiritual fulfillment. A man who bathes at the sacred ford called Vedītīrtha gains the merit equal to gifting a thousand cows. Near the well named Kiṃdatta, let him offer one prastha of sesame—sixteen handfuls—as a gift. O foremost of the Kurus, by doing so a person is released from the threefold obligations and reaches supreme attainment; and by bathing at Vedītīrtha he receives the fruit of a thousand cow-gifts.”
घुलस्त्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Pilgrimage and charity, when performed with dharmic intent, are presented as means to discharge the ‘three debts’ (to gods, seers, and ancestors). Bathing at Vedītīrtha and donating a measured amount of sesame near the Kiṃdatta well are said to yield great merit and support liberation from obligations.
A speaker named Ghulastya instructs a Kuru prince about specific tīrtha practices: bathing at Vedītīrtha and giving one prastha of sesame near a well called Kiṃdatta. The passage frames these acts as highly meritorious, equating the bath’s fruit to a thousand cow-gifts and promising release from the threefold obligations.