Shloka 18
Adhyāya 152 — Bhīṣma’s Authorization for Yudhiṣṭhira’s Return to the Capital (नगरप्रवेशानुज्ञा)
विपाशा च वितस्ता च चन्द्रभागा इरावती । शतद्भूदेंविका सिन्धु: कौशिकी गौतमी तथा
vipāśā ca vitastā ca candrabhāgā irāvatī | śatadrū devikā sindhuḥ kauśikī gautamī tathā | yamunā narmadā caiva kāverīm atha nimnagām | ye nadīṣu uttamāḥ puṇya-salilāḥ sarasvatī virājamānāḥ samudre militaḥ | etāḥ sarva-saritāṃ prathamāḥ (pradhānāḥ) manyante |
Śrī Maheśvara disse: “Vipāśā, Vitastā, Candrabhāgā, Irāvatī, Śatadrū, Devikā, Sindhu, Kauśikī e Gautamī—bem como Yamunā, Narmadā e Kāverī, o rio que desce até o oceano—estão todos presentes aqui. Entre os rios, Sarasvatī resplandece como a mais excelente; suas águas são sagradas, e diz-se que ela se une ao mar. Estes são tidos como os primeiros entre todas as correntes.”
श्रीमहेश्वर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse elevates tīrtha-s and sacred rivers as sources of purification and merit, presenting a dharmic worldview where geography is ethically charged: contact with holy waters and remembrance of revered rivers supports inner cleansing and religious duty.
Śrī Maheśvara enumerates prominent rivers and singles out Sarasvatī as especially eminent and holy, describing these waterways as foremost among streams and (in the case of Sarasvatī) as reaching/merging with the ocean—part of a broader sacred-topography discourse.