Shloka 3

Dhaumya’s Enumeration of Eastern Tīrthas

Prācī-diś Tīrtha-kathana

Devanagari script

करतोयां समासाद्य त्रिरात्रोपोषितो नरः । अश्वमेधमवाप्रोति प्रजापतिकृतो विधि:,करतोयामें जाकर स्नान करके तीन रात उपवास करनेवाला मनुष्य अश्वमेधयज्ञका फल पाता है। यह ब्रह्माजीद्वारा की हुई व्यवस्था है

Transliteration

karatoyāṃ samāsādya trirātropoṣito naraḥ | aśvamedham avāpnoti prajāpati-kṛto vidhiḥ ||

Translation

プラスタヤは言った。「カラトーヤー河（Karatoyā）に至り、そこで沐浴し、三夜の断食を守る者は、アシュヴァメーダ（Aśvamedha）供犠の功徳を得る。これはプラジャーパティ（Prajāpati、梵天ブラフマー）によって定められた法である。」

Word by Word

करतोयाम्to the (river) Karatoyā

समासाद्यhaving reached/approached

त्रिरात्रfor three nights

उपोषितःhaving fasted

नरःa man

अश्वमेधम्the Aśvamedha (sacrifice/its fruit)

अवाप्नोतिattains/obtains

प्रजापति-कृतःmade/ordained by Prajāpati (Brahmā)

विधिःrule/ordinance

Speaker

पुलस्त्य उवाच

Characters & Entities

Pulastya

Karatoyā (river)

Aśvamedha (sacrifice)

Prajāpati (Brahmā)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches that sincere pilgrimage combined with disciplined fasting can yield immense spiritual merit—comparable to a grand royal sacrifice—because such practices cultivate purity, restraint, and reverence within a divinely sanctioned moral order (vidhi).

What is happening in the narrative?

In Pulastya’s discourse on sacred places and their fruits (tīrtha-māhātmya), he describes the Karatoyā as a powerful tīrtha: bathing there and fasting for three nights grants the merit of performing an Aśvamedha, an ordinance attributed to Prajāpati (Brahmā).