Shloka 34

Brāhmaṇya-प्रश्नः — The Inquiry into Attaining Brāhmaṇya

Mataṅga–Gardabhī Itihāsa

Devanagari script

गड्राह्दद उपस्पृश्य तथा चैवोत्पलावने । अश्वमेधमवाप्नोति तत्र मासं कृतोदक:,जो गड़ाह्द और उत्पलावनतीर्थमें स्नान करके एक मासतक वहाँ पितरोंका तर्पण करता है, वह अश्वमेधयज्ञका फल पाता है

Transliteration

Gadāhrada upaspṛśya tathā caivotpalāvane | aśvamedham avāpnoti tatra māsaṁ kṛtodakaḥ ||

Translation

ഗഡാഹ്രദ തീർത്ഥത്തിലും അതുപോലെ ഉത്പലാവനത്തിലും സ്നാനം ചെയ്ത്, അവിടെ ഒരുമാസം പിതൃകൾക്ക് തർപ്പണജലം അർപ്പിക്കുന്നവൻ അശ്വമേധയജ്ഞഫലം പ്രാപിക്കുന്നു.

Word by Word

गड्राह्रदात्from (the tīrtha called) Gaḍrāhrada

उपस्पृश्यhaving bathed / having performed ablution

तथाthus; likewise

चand

एवindeed; just

उत्पलावनेin (the tīrtha called) Utpalāvana

अश्वमेधम्the Aśvamedha (sacrifice/its fruit)

अवाप्नोतिattains; obtains

तत्रthere

मासम्for a month

कृतोदकःhaving performed the water-offering (tarpana); one who has done the libation

Speaker

अजड्रिय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Gadāhrada (tīrtha)

Utpalāvana (tīrtha)

Aśvamedha (sacrifice)

pitṛs (ancestors) (implied by kṛtodaka/tarpaṇa context)

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 sustained, sincere observance of ancestral rites (water-offerings) combined with pilgrimage bathing at sacred sites can confer merit comparable to the highest royal sacrifices, emphasizing accessible dharma grounded in devotion, discipline, and reverence for lineage.

What is happening in the narrative?

Within the Anuśāsana Parva’s tīrtha-māhātmya style instruction, the speaker enumerates specific holy places and the fruits of bathing and performing rites there; here, Gadāhrada and Utpalāvana are praised, and a month-long performance of water-rites at that location is said to yield Aśvamedha-level merit.