Shloka 48
युधिष्ठिरस्य अर्जुनप्रेषण-युक्तिवर्णनम् | Yudhiṣṭhira’s Rationale for Sending Arjuna and Request to Dhaumya
ऋषिकुल्यां समासाद्य वासिष्ठं चैव भारत | वासिष्ठीं समतिक्रम्य सर्वे वर्णा द्विजातय:,भरतनन्दन! ऋषिकुल्या एवं वासिष्ठतीर्थमें जाकर स्नान आदि करके वासिष्ठीको लाँघकर जानेवाले क्षत्रिय आदि सभी वर्णोके लोग द्विजाति हो जाते हैं
ṛṣikulyāṃ samāsādya vāsiṣṭhaṃ caiva bhārata | vāsiṣṭhīṃ samatikramya sarve varṇā dvijātayaḥ ||
Ghūlastya said: “O Bhārata, having reached the sacred ford called Ṛṣikulyā and also the Vāsiṣṭha tīrtha, all people of every social order—such as kṣatriyas and others—who bathe there and then pass beyond the Vāsiṣṭhī (stream/ford) become ‘twice-born.’” The passage highlights the Mahābhārata’s recurring idea that contact with a powerful tīrtha, approached with proper observance, is believed to confer purification and a renewed ethical standing, symbolically described as a second birth.
घुलस्त्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents tīrtha as a transformative moral force: by approaching a revered sacred site and performing the proper observance (notably bathing), a person is said to gain purification and a renewed status symbolized as ‘twice-born.’ It underscores the Mahābhārata theme that inner and outer purification, pursued through dharmic practice, can elevate one’s ethical standing.
A speaker named Ghūlastya addresses ‘Bhārata’ and describes the merit of specific pilgrimage sites—Ṛṣikulyā and the Vāsiṣṭha tīrtha—stating that those who bathe there and then pass beyond the Vāsiṣṭhī are regarded as dvija, i.e., as having attained a second birth through the tīrtha’s sanctifying power.