Shloka 76
युधिष्ठिरस्य अर्जुनप्रेषण-युक्तिवर्णनम् | Yudhiṣṭhira’s Rationale for Sending Arjuna and Request to Dhaumya
भरतकुलभूषण! वहीं शतसाहस्रकतीर्थ है। उसमें स्नान करके नियमपालनपूर्वक नियमित भोजन करते हुए मनुष्य सहस्र गोदानका पुण्यफल प्राप्त करता है ।। ततो गच्छेत राजेन्द्र भर्त॒स्थानमनुत्तमम् । अश्वमेधस्य यज्ञस्य फल प्राप्रोति मानव:,राजेन्द्र! वहाँसे परम उत्तम भर्तृस्थानको जाय। वहाँ जानेसे मनुष्यको अश्वमेधयज्ञका फल प्राप्त होता है
bharatakula-bhūṣaṇa! vahāṁ śata-sāhasraka-tīrthaḥ. tatra snātvā niyama-pālana-pūrvakaṁ niyamita-bhojanaṁ kurvan manuṣyaḥ sahasra-go-dānasya puṇya-phalaṁ prāpnoti. tato gacchet rājendra bhartṛ-sthānam anuttamam. aśvamedhasya yajñasya phalaṁ prāpnoti mānavaḥ.
O ornament of the Bharata lineage! There is a sacred ford known as Śata-sāhasraka. By bathing there, and then observing disciplines—living with restraint and taking regulated food—a person gains the merit equivalent to gifting a thousand cows. From there, O best of kings, one should proceed to the unsurpassed Bhartṛ-sthāna; by going there a human being attains the fruit of the Aśvamedha sacrifice. The passage frames pilgrimage as an ethical practice: inner restraint and disciplined living are presented as the means by which sacred places yield their highest benefit.
घुलस्त्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Sacred places yield their promised merit when approached with ethical discipline: bathing (external purity) is paired with niyama—restraint, observances, and regulated eating (internal discipline). The verse links pilgrimage to moral self-governance rather than mere travel.
A speaker guides a king (addressed as ‘ornament of the Bharatas’ and ‘best of kings’) through a sequence of tīrthas: first Śata-sāhasraka, where bathing and disciplined living grant the merit of a thousand cow-gifts, and then Bhartṛ-sthāna, whose visit grants the fruit of the Aśvamedha sacrifice.