Mahabharata 3.201.92 — Vana Parva, Adhyaya 201, Shloka 92
Dharma-vyādha’s Analysis of Moral Decline and the Mahābhūta–Guṇa Schema (धर्मव्याधोपदेशः)
व्रजे वाप्यथवारण्ये यत्र सन्ति बहुश्रुता: । तत् तन्नगरमित्याहु: पार्थ तीर्थ च तद् भवेत्
vraje vāpy athavāraṇye yatra santi bahuśrutāḥ | tat tan nagaram ity āhuḥ pārtha tīrtha ca tad bhavet | kuntīnandana!
ഹേ കുന്തീനന്ദന പാർത്ഥാ! വ്രജമായാലും അരണ്യമായാലും—എവിടെ ബഹുശ്രുതർ വസിക്കുന്നുവോ, ആ സ്ഥലത്തെയാണ് ‘നഗരം’ എന്നു പറയുന്നത്; അതേ സ്ഥലം തീർത്ഥവുമാകുന്നു.
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
A place is made ‘civilized’ and spiritually potent not by buildings or location but by the presence of learned, dharma-grounded people; their company turns even a forest or pastoral settlement into a ‘city’ and a ‘tīrtha’—a crossing-place that uplifts others.
Yudhiṣṭhira addresses Arjuna (Pārtha, Kuntīnandana) and reframes the idea of sacred and urban space: wherever true learning and wise persons reside, that place deserves the status of a city and functions like a pilgrimage-site.
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