Shloka 51

Devanagari script

शड्खिनीतीर्थमासाद्य तीर्थसेवी कुरूद्वह । देव्यास्तीर्थे नर: स्नात्वा लभते रूपमुत्तमम्‌

Transliteration

Śaḍkhinītīrtham āsādya tīrthasevī kurūdvaha | devyās tīrthe naraḥ snātvā labhate rūpam uttamam ||

Translation

ഹേ കുരുവീരശ്രേഷ്ഠാ! തീർത്ഥസേവകൻ ശഡ്ഖിനീ (ശംഖിനീ) തീർത്ഥത്തിലെത്തി ദേവിയുടെ ആ തീർത്ഥത്തിൽ സ്നാനം ചെയ്താൽ, അവൻ അത്യുത്തമവും ദീപ്തിമാനുമായ രൂപം പ്രാപിക്കുന്നു.

Word by Word

शड्खिनीतीर्थम्the Śaḍkhinī-tīrtha (name of a sacred ford)

आसाद्यhaving reached

तीर्थसेवीa frequenter/servant of sacred places

कुरूद्वहO best of the Kurus

देव्याःof the goddess

तीर्थेat the sacred ford

नरःa man

स्नात्वाhaving bathed

लभतेobtains

रूपम्form/beauty

उत्तमम्excellent, supreme

Speaker

घुलस्त्य उवाच

Characters & Entities

Śaḍkhinī-tīrtha

Devī (the Goddess)

Kurūdvaha (addressee, a Kuru hero)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Reverent pilgrimage and ritual bathing at a sacred tīrtha—especially one associated with the Goddess—are portrayed as purifying disciplines that confer auspicious qualities, here expressed as attaining an ‘excellent form’ (rūpam uttamam).

What is happening in the narrative?

Ghūlastya addresses a Kuru noble and describes the fruit of visiting Śaḍkhinī-tīrtha: a pilgrim who reaches it and bathes at the Goddess’s sacred place gains exceptional beauty or radiance, as part of a broader tīrtha-māhātmya (praise of holy places) sequence in the Vana Parva.