Shloka 3

Devanagari script

करतोयां समासाद्य त्रिरात्रोपोषितो नरः । अश्वमेधमवाप्रोति प्रजापतिकृतो विधि:,करतोयामें जाकर स्नान करके तीन रात उपवास करनेवाला मनुष्य अश्वमेधयज्ञका फल पाता है। यह ब्रह्माजीद्वारा की हुई व्यवस्था है

Transliteration

karatoyāṃ samāsādya trirātropoṣito naraḥ | aśvamedham avāpnoti prajāpati-kṛto vidhiḥ ||

Translation

പുലസ്ത്യൻ പറഞ്ഞു—കരതോയാ നദിയിലെത്തി സ്നാനം ചെയ്ത് മൂന്നു രാത്രികൾ ഉപവാസം അനുഷ്ഠിക്കുന്ന മനുഷ്യൻ അശ്വമേധയാഗഫലം പ്രാപിക്കുന്നു. ഇത് പ്രജാപതി (ബ്രഹ്മാവ്) സ്ഥാപിച്ച വിധിയാണ്.

Word by Word

करतोयाम्to the (river) Karatoyā

समासाद्यhaving reached/approached

त्रिरात्रfor three nights

उपोषितःhaving fasted

नरःa man

अश्वमेधम्the Aśvamedha (sacrifice/its fruit)

अवाप्नोतिattains/obtains

प्रजापति-कृतःmade/ordained by Prajāpati (Brahmā)

विधिःrule/ordinance

Speaker

पुलस्त्य उवाच

Characters & Entities

Pulastya

Karatoyā (river)

Aśvamedha (sacrifice)

Prajāpati (Brahmā)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches that sincere pilgrimage combined with disciplined fasting can yield immense spiritual merit—comparable to a grand royal sacrifice—because such practices cultivate purity, restraint, and reverence within a divinely sanctioned moral order (vidhi).

What is happening in the narrative?

In Pulastya’s discourse on sacred places and their fruits (tīrtha-māhātmya), he describes the Karatoyā as a powerful tīrtha: bathing there and fasting for three nights grants the merit of performing an Aśvamedha, an ordinance attributed to Prajāpati (Brahmā).