Shloka 30

Devanagari script

ततः कनखले स्नात्वा त्रिरात्रोपोषितो नर: । अश्वमेधमवाप्रोति स्वर्गलोक॑ च गच्छति,तदनन्तर कनखलमें स्नान करके तीन रात उपवास करनेवाला मनुष्य अश्वमेधयज्ञका फल पाता और स्वर्ग-लोकमें जाता है

Transliteration

tataḥ kanakhale snātvā trirātro-poṣito naraḥ | aśvamedham avāpnoti svargalokaṃ ca gacchati ||

Translation

Then, having bathed at Kanakhala and having observed a fast for three nights, a person attains the merit of an Aśvamedha sacrifice and goes to the heavenly world. The passage underscores a Mahābhārata theme: disciplined austerity and pilgrimage, when performed with restraint, are presented as powerful means of spiritual uplift and moral purification.

Word by Word

ततःthen, thereafter

कनखलेin Kanakhala

स्नात्वाhaving bathed

त्रिरात्रthree nights (a period of three nights)

उपोषितःhaving fasted

नरःa man

अश्वमेधम्the Aśvamedha (sacrifice/its merit)

अवाप्नोतिattains, obtains

स्वर्गलोकम्the heavenly world

चand

गच्छतिgoes

Speaker

घुलस्त्य उवाच

Characters & Entities

Kanakhala

Aśvamedha

Svargaloka

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches that sincere pilgrimage and disciplined austerity—here, bathing at a sacred tīrtha and fasting for three nights—can yield extraordinary spiritual merit, symbolically equated with the famed Aśvamedha, and lead toward higher posthumous realms (svarga).

What is happening in the narrative?

A speaker describes the fruit of a specific tīrtha-observance at Kanakhala: after bathing there and fasting for three nights, a person is said to gain the merit of performing an Aśvamedha sacrifice and to attain heaven.