Mahabharata 9.37.30 — Shalya Parva, Adhyaya 37, Shloka 30

Saptasārasvata-tīrtha-prasaṅgaḥ | The Saptasārasvata Pilgrimage Account and the Maṅkaṇaka Narrative

Devanagari script

धर्मात्मा नागधन्वानं तीर्थमागमदच्युत: । यत्र पन्नगराजस्य वासुके: संनिवेशनम्‌

Transliteration

vaiśampāyana uvāca | dharmātmā nāgadhanvānaṃ tīrtham āgamad acyutaḥ | yatra pannagarājasya vāsukeḥ saṃniveśanam ||

Translation

ਵੈਸ਼ੰਪਾਯਨ ਨੇ ਆਖਿਆ—ਧਰਮਾਤਮਾ ਅਚ੍ਯੁਤ ਬਲਰਾਮ ਨਾਗਧਨ੍ਵਾ ਨਾਮਕ ਤੀਰਥ ਤੇ ਪਹੁੰਚੇ, ਜਿੱਥੇ ਨਾਗਰਾਜ ਵਾਸੁਕੀ ਦਾ ਨਿਵਾਸ ਹੈ। ਉੱਥੇ ਅਣਗਿਣਤ ਨਾਗਾਂ ਨਾਲ ਘਿਰਿਆ ਮਹਾਤੇਜਸਵੀ ਸਰਪਾਧਿਪਤੀ ਵਾਸੁਕੀ ਵੱਸਦਾ ਹੈ; ਅਤੇ ਉਸ ਪਰਮ ਪਵਿੱਤਰ ਸਥਾਨ ਵਿੱਚ ਸਦਾ ਚੌਦਾਂ ਹਜ਼ਾਰ ਰਿਸ਼ੀ ਨਿਵਾਸ ਕਰਦੇ ਹਨ।

Word by Word

• {'dharmātmā': 'righteous-souled

• one whose nature is grounded in dharma', 'nāgadhanvānam': 'Nāgadhanvā (name of a tīrtha)

• accusative singular', 'tīrtham': 'sacred ford/pilgrimage site

• place of religious merit', 'āgamat': 'arrived

• came', 'acyutaḥ': 'Acyuta, ‘the unfailing one’

• epithet here referring to Balarāma', 'yatra': 'where', 'pannagarāja': 'king of serpents (nāgas)', 'vāsukeḥ': 'of Vāsuki

• genitive singular', 'saṃniveśanam': 'dwelling-place

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• Acyuta (Balarāma)
• Nāgadhanvā tīrtha
• Vāsuki
• Pannagas/Nāgas
• Ṛṣis (fourteen thousand, per prose context)
• Mahārāja (address to the listener)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores the Mahābhārata’s ethical contrast between worldly conflict and enduring sanctity: a dharmic figure seeks out tīrthas, where disciplined sages and sacred beings reside, suggesting that spiritual order and merit persist even when society is shaken by war.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana narrates that Balarāma (called Acyuta) reaches the pilgrimage site Nāgadhanvā, identified as the dwelling place of Vāsuki, the serpent-king, surrounded by many nāgas; the accompanying tradition notes the continual presence of a vast community of ṛṣis there.