Shloka 40

Dhaumya’s Enumeration of Eastern Tīrthas

Prācī-diś Tīrtha-kathana

Devanagari script

ततो वापीं महापुण्यां पयोष्णीं सरितां वराम्‌ । पितृदेवार्चनरतो गोसहस्रफलं लभेत्‌,तदनन्तर परम पुण्यमयी वापी और सरिताओंमें श्रेष्ठ पयोष्णीमें जाकर स्नान करे और देवताओं तथा पितरोंके पूजनमें तत्पर रहे, ऐसा करनेसे तीर्थसेवीको सहस्र गोदानका फल मिलता है

Transliteration

tato vāpīṁ mahāpuṇyāṁ payoṣṇīṁ saritāṁ varām | pitṛdevārcanarato gosahasraphalaṁ labhet |

Translation

プラースティヤは言った。「それから、きわめて功徳深い聖なる池と、諸河のうち最上のパヨーシュニー河（Payoṣṇī）へ赴き、そこで沐浴せよ。神々と祖霊（ピトリ）への供養に専心するなら、その巡礼者は千頭の牛を施すに等しい功徳を得る。」

Word by Word

ततःthen, thereafter

वापीम्a pond/tank

महापुण्याम्very holy

पयोष्णीम्Payoṣṇī (name of a river)

सरिताम्of rivers

वराम्best, excellent

पितृदेवार्चनरतःintent on worship of ancestors and gods

गोसहस्रफलम्the fruit (merit) of a thousand cows (as gift)

लभेत्would obtain

Speaker

पुलस्त्य उवाच

Characters & Entities

Pulastya

Payoṣṇī (river)

vāpi (sacred pool/pond)

pitṛs (ancestors)

devas (gods)

go (cows, as gift/merit standard)

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?

Pilgrimage is not merely travel: bathing at a sacred site should be joined with active reverence—worship of the gods and honoring the ancestors. Such integrated practice is said to yield immense merit, symbolized as the fruit of gifting a thousand cows.

What is happening in the narrative?

Pulastya continues a tīrtha-māhātmya instruction, directing the listener to proceed to a highly sacred pond and then to the Payoṣṇī river, bathe there, and remain intent on worship of devas and pitṛs; the text states the resulting spiritual reward.