Shloka 8
Baka Dālbhya at Avakīrṇa-tīrtha: Rāṣṭra-kṣaya and Release through Prasāda (Śalya-parva, Adhyāya 40)
अद्यप्रभृति नैवात्र भयं व्यालादू भविष्यति | अपि चाल्पेन कालेन फल प्राप्स्पति पुष्कललम्,“आजसे जो मनुष्य महानदी सरस्वतीके इस तीर्थमें स्नान करेगा, उसे अश्वमेध-यज्ञका सम्पूर्ण फल प्राप्त होगा। आजसे इस तीर्थमें किसीको सर्पसे भय नहीं होगा। थोड़े समयतक ही इस तीर्थके सेवनसे मनुष्यको बहुत अधिक फल प्राप्त होगा”
vaiśaṃpāyana uvāca |
adya-prabhṛti naivātra bhayaṃ vyālād bhaviṣyati |
api cālpena kālena phalaṃ prāpsyati puṣkalam ||
“ഇന്നുമുതൽ ഇവിടെ സർപ്പങ്ങളിൽ നിന്നൊരു ഭയവും ഉണ്ടാകില്ല; കൂടാതെ അല്പസമയത്തിനുള്ളിൽ തന്നെ ഈ തീർത്ഥത്തെ ആശ്രയിക്കുന്നവനും സമൃദ്ധമായ ഫലം പ്രാപിക്കും.”
वैशग्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the Mahābhārata’s tīrtha-ethic: sincere resort to a sacred place (especially bathing in a revered river-ford) can quickly yield great spiritual fruit, and such sanctified spaces are portrayed as zones of protection where ordinary dangers—here, fear of serpents—are removed by dharmic power.
Vaiśaṃpāyana is describing the greatness of a Sarasvatī tīrtha. He proclaims a boon-like assurance: from that day onward the place will be free from serpent-danger, and that even brief observance there brings abundant merit—elsewhere in the passage framed as the complete fruit of an Aśvamedha for one who bathes there.