Shloka 21

और्वोपाख्यानम्

Aurva Episode: Restoration of Sight and Restraint of World-Destructive Anger

Devanagari script

अपर्युषितपापास्ते नदी: सप्त पिबन्ति ये । इयं भूत्वा चैकवप्रा शुचिराकाशगा पुन:,प्राचीन कालमें हिमालयके स्वर्णशिखरसे निकली हुई गंगा सात धाराओंमें विभक्त हो समुद्रमें जाकर मिल गयी हैं। जो पुरुष गंगा, यमुना, प्लक्षकी जड़से प्रकट हुई सरस्वती, रथस्था, सरयू, गोमती और गण्डकी--इन सात नदियोंका जल पीते हैं, उनके पाप तत्काल नष्ट हो जाते हैं। ये गंगा बड़ी पवित्र नदी हैं। एकमात्र आकाश ही इनका तट है। गन्धर्व! ये आकाशकभमार्गसे विचरती हुई गंगा देवलोकमें अलकनन्दा नाम धारण करती हैं। ये ही वैतरणी होकर पितृलोकमें बहती हैं। वहाँ पापियोंके लिये इनके पार जाना अत्यन्त कठिन होता है। इस लोकमें आकर इनका नाम गंगा होता है। यह श्रीकृष्णद्वैपायन व्यासजीका कथन है

Transliteration

aparyuṣitapāpās te nadyaḥ sapta pibanti ye | iyaṃ bhūtvā caikavaprā śucir ākāśagā punaḥ ||

Translation

Arjuna disse: “Aqueles que bebem as águas desses sete rios têm seus pecados lavados sem demora. Este rio—puro e novamente movendo-se pelo céu—torna-se, por assim dizer, uma só corrente cuja única margem é a amplidão do firmamento.”

Word by Word

अपर्युषितपापाःwhose sins are not (left) remaining / whose sins are immediately destroyed

तेthey (those men)

नदीःrivers

सप्तseven

पिबन्तिdrink

येwho

इयम्this (river)

भूत्वाhaving become

चand

एकवप्राhaving a single bank/shore (with the sky as the only bank)

शुचिःpure

आकाशगाmoving in the sky

पुनःagain / further

Speaker

अजुन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Arjuna

seven rivers (sapta nadyaḥ)

Ganga (implied by context)

ākāśa (sky)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Contact with sacred waters—here framed as drinking from the seven holy rivers—symbolizes immediate purification from moral taint (pāpa), emphasizing the Mahābhārata’s recurring link between tīrtha (holy places) and ethical renewal.

What is happening in the narrative?

Arjuna describes the extraordinary sanctity of a divine river (contextually the Gaṅgā): it purifies those who partake of the seven rivers’ waters and is portrayed as ‘sky-going,’ suggesting its celestial course and transcendent status.