Shloka 72
Account of Various Sacred Tīrthas
Pilgrimage Merits and Prayāga Supremacy
प्रयागं जघनस्यांतमुपस्थमृषयो विदुः । प्रयागं सुप्रतिष्ठानं कंबलाश्वतरावुभौ
prayāgaṃ jaghanasyāṃtamupasthamṛṣayo viduḥ | prayāgaṃ supratiṣṭhānaṃ kaṃbalāśvatarāvubhau
Para ṛṣi mengetahui Prayāga sebagai ‘penghujung jaghana’ dan sebagai ‘upastha’, yakni wilayah pinggang. Mereka juga mengenal Prayāga sebagai Supratiṣṭhāna, serta sebagai dua tempat suci kembar: Kaṃbala dan Aśvatara.
Unspecified in the provided excerpt (context needed from surrounding verses to confirm the dialogue frame).
Primary Rasa: adbhuta
Secondary Rasa: shanta
Type: tirtha
Sandhi Resolution Notes: जघनस्य + अन्तम् + उपस्थम् → जघनस्यांतमुपस्थम् (अ + उ → ओ/उ-प्रारम्भे संधि-लेखन; here written as concatenation). उपस्थम् + ऋषयः → उपस्थमृषयः (म् + ऋ → मृ).
FAQs
It maps Prayāga through multiple traditional identifiers—anatomical metaphor (as a bodily ‘region’) and alternative place-names (Supratiṣṭhāna, Kaṃbala, Aśvatara), reflecting how a single sacred zone can contain or be known by several tīrtha-designations.
Indirectly: by elevating Prayāga through revered names recognized by sages, it encourages pilgrimage and devotional reverence toward sacred spaces associated with merit and sanctity—common supports for bhakti practice in Purāṇic literature.
To honor authoritative tradition (what the sages ‘know’) and approach sacred places with respect and discernment, recognizing that spiritual culture preserves multiple layers of meaning—names, metaphors, and localized tīrtha identities.