Shloka 733
युधिष्ठिरस्य अर्जुनप्रेषण-युक्तिवर्णनम् | Yudhiṣṭhira’s Rationale for Sending Arjuna and Request to Dhaumya
अश्वमेधमवाप्रोति पुनाति च कुलं नर: । कुरुनन्दन! गोमतीके रामतीर्थमें स्नान करके मनुष्य अश्वमेधयज्ञका फल पाता और अपने कुलको पवित्र कर देता है
aśvamedham avāpnoti punāti ca kulaṃ naraḥ | kurunandana! gomatyāṃ rāmatīrthe snātvā manuṣyaḥ aśvamedhayajñasya phalaṃ prāpnoti sva-kulaṃ ca pavitraṃ karoti |
Ghūlastya said: “O joy of the Kurus! By bathing at Rāma-tīrtha on the river Gomatī, a person attains the merit of the Aśvamedha sacrifice and purifies his lineage. The teaching is that sincere pilgrimage and sacred bathing, performed with faith and right conduct, can confer great spiritual merit and uplift one’s family line.”
घुलस्त्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches the extraordinary purificatory power attributed to sacred places: bathing at Rāma-tīrtha on the Gomatī is said to yield the merit of an Aśvamedha and to purify one’s lineage, emphasizing faith, sanctity of tīrthas, and moral-spiritual uplift beyond costly ritual.
In the tīrtha-mahātmya section of the Vana Parva, a speaker (Ghūlastya) addresses a Kuru prince (‘Kurunandana’) and praises a specific pilgrimage site—Rāma-tīrtha on the Gomatī—by declaring the great merit gained through bathing there.