Shloka 18
Chapter 2: Sudarśana Upākhyāna — Atithi-Dharma and the Conquest of Mṛtyu
Gṛhastha-Vrata
त॑ नर्मदा देवनदी पुण्या शीतजला शिवा । चकमे पुरुषव्याप्रं स्वेन भावेन भारत,भारत! एक समय शीतल जलवाली पवित्र एवं कल्याणमयी देवनदी नर्मदा उस पुरुषसिंहको सम्पूर्ण हृदयसे चाहने लगी और उसकी पत्नी बन गयी
tāṁ narmadā devanadī puṇyā śītajalā śivā | cakame puruṣavyāghraṁ svena bhāvena bhārata ||
ಭೀಷ್ಮನು ಹೇಳಿದನು— ಓ ಭಾರತ! ಪುಣ್ಯವತಿಯಾದ, ಶೀತಲಜಲವುಳ್ಳ, ಮಂಗಳಕರ ದೇವನದಿ ನರ್ಮದೆ ತನ್ನ ಸ್ವಭಾವದಿಂದಲೇ ಆ ಪುರುಷವ್ಯಾಘ್ರನನ್ನು ಹೃದಯಪೂರ್ವಕವಾಗಿ ಬಯಸಿ, ಕಾಲಕ್ರಮೇಣ ಅವನನ್ನು ಪತಿಯಾಗಿ ಸ್ವೀಕರಿಸಿದಳು.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents sacred nature (a holy river) as an active moral-spiritual presence: purity, auspiciousness, and divine grace are depicted as seeking union with human excellence. It implies that worthiness and dharmic stature attract beneficent forces, and that sacred places are not merely physical but ethically charged realities.
Bhīṣma narrates that the divine river Narmadā, described as holy and cool-watered, becomes enamored of a great man (puruṣavyāghra) and, following her own nature and affection, takes him as her husband.