Shloka 20
Gaṅgādvāra-tīrtha, Ulūpī-saṃvāda, and Arjuna’s Dharma-Deliberation (गङ्गाद्वार-तीर्थम्, उलूपी-संवादः)
यदि दत्तं यदि हुतं विद्यते यदि नस्तपः । तेन तिष्ठन्तु नगरे पाण्डवा: शरदां शतम्,यदि हमने दान और होम किया है, यदि हमारी तपस्या शेष है तो उन सबके पुण्यसे ये पाण्डव सौ वर्षतक इसी नगरमें निवास करें”
vaiśampāyana uvāca | yadi dattaṃ yadi hutaṃ vidyate yadi nas tapaḥ | tena tiṣṭhantu nagare pāṇḍavāḥ śaradāṃ śatam ||
Vaiśampāyana disse: “Se de fato demos em caridade, se oferecemos devidamente as oblações, e se ainda nos resta algum mérito de austeridade, então, pelo poder dessa virtude acumulada, que os Pāṇḍavas habitem nesta cidade por cem outonos.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse links ethical and ritual conduct—charity (dāna), sacrificial offering (homa), and austerity (tapas)—to the generation of puṇya (merit), which is then invoked as a moral-spiritual force capable of securing welfare and stability for others.
The narrator Vaiśampāyana reports a benedictive utterance: the speaker appeals to whatever merit has been accumulated through giving, offerings, and austerity, and uses it as a vow-like blessing that the Pāṇḍavas may remain safely in the city for a long, auspicious span—‘a hundred autumns’ (i.e., a hundred years).