Shloka 88
Trita in the Well (Udapāna-kathā) — Balarāma’s Tīrtha Observances
तत्र दत्त्वा च दानानि विशिष्टानि हलायुध: । उषित्वा रजनीमेकां स्नात्वा च विधिवत्तदा
tatra dattvā ca dānāni viśiṣṭāni halāyudhaḥ | uṣitvā rajanīm ekāṁ snātvā ca vidhivattadā |
ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಹಲಾಯುಧನಾದ ಬಲರಾಮನು ವಿಶಿಷ್ಟ ದಾನಗಳನ್ನು ನೀಡಿದನು. ನಂತರ ಒಂದು ರಾತ್ರಿ ತಂಗಿ, ವಿಧಿವತ್ತಾಗಿ ಸ್ನಾನ ಮಾಡಿ (ಮುಂದೆ) ಹೊರಟನು.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights tīrtha-yātrā as a dharmic practice: charity (dāna), ritual bathing (snāna) performed vidhivat, and reverence for sacred places yield spiritual merit. It also suggests that realized sages perceive subtle sacred realities—like the hidden Sarasvatī—through signs in nature.
Vaiśampāyana narrates that Balarāma, after giving special gifts and spending one night, bathes according to proper rites and then hastens toward Udapāna-tīrtha. The narrator explains to King Janamejaya that this tīrtha grants great fruit merely by one’s presence, and that siddhas can infer the unseen Sarasvatī there from the lush medicinal growth and moist ground.