Shloka 77
Dhaumya’s Enumeration of Eastern Tīrthas
Prācī-diś Tīrtha-kathana
तीर्थ भोगवती चैव वेदिरेषा प्रजापते: । तत्र वेदाश्न यज्ञाश्च मूर्तिमन्तो युधिष्ठिर,ऋषियोंने प्रयागको जघनस्थानीय उपस्थ बताया है। प्रतिष्ठानपुर (झूसी)-सहित प्रयाग, कम्बल और अश्वतर नाग तथा भोगवतीतीर्थ यह ब्रह्माजीकी वेदी है। युधिष्ठिर! उस तीर्थमें वेद और यज्ञ मूर्तिमान् होकर रहते हैं और प्रजापतिकी उपासना करते हैं। तपोधन ऋषि, देवता तथा चक्रधर नृपतिगण वहाँ यज्ञोंद्वारा भगवानका यजन करते हैं। भरतनन्दन! इसीलिये तीनों लोकोंमें प्रयागको सब तीर्थोकी अपेक्षा श्रेष्ठ एवं पुण्यतम बताते हैं। उस तीर्थमें जानेसे अथवा उसका नाम लेनेमात्रसे भी मनुष्य मृत्युकालके भय और पापसे मुक्त हो जाता है
pulastya uvāca | tīrthaṁ bhogavatī caiva vedir eṣā prajāpateḥ | tatra vedāś ca yajñāś ca mūrtimanto yudhiṣṭhira |
Pulastya said: “O Yudhiṣṭhira, the sacred ford called Bhogavatī is indeed the altar of Prajāpati. There, the Vedas and the sacrificial rites are said to abide in embodied form—present as living realities—honoring Prajāpati. The teaching is that a tīrtha is not merely a place but a concentrated field of dharma: reverence for the Veda, disciplined worship, and the purifying power of right ritual intention.”
पुलस्त्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
A tīrtha is portrayed as a living center of dharma: the Veda and yajña are not abstract but ‘embodied’ presences. Reverence for Prajāpati/creative order and disciplined ritual life are presented as purifying and ethically stabilizing forces.
Pulastya is instructing Yudhiṣṭhira in a tīrtha-māhātmya context, identifying Bhogavatī as Prajāpati’s altar and praising the sanctity of the place by stating that the Vedas and sacrifices dwell there in manifest form.