Shloka 28

Vaitaraṇī-tīrtha and the Devayāna Path

Kaliṅga Episode

Devanagari script

अभ्निश्च ते योनिरिडा च देहो रेतोधा विष्णोरमृतस्य नाभि: । एवं जपन्‌ पाण्डव सत्यवाक्यं ततो<5वगाहेत पतिं नदीनाम्‌,“हे महासागर! अग्नि तुम्हारी योनि (कारण) है और यज्ञ शरीर है, तुम भगवान्‌ विष्णुकी शक्तिके आधार और मोक्षके साधन हो।/' पाण्डुपुत्र! इस सत्य वचनको बोलते हुए नदियोंके स्वामी समुद्रमें स्नान करना चाहिये

Transliteration

agniś ca te yonir iḍā ca deho retodhā viṣṇor amṛtasya nābhiḥ | evaṃ japan pāṇḍava satyavākyaṃ tato ’vagāheta patiṃ nadīnām ||

Translation

Lomaśa disse: “O fogo é o teu ventre (tua fonte), e o sacrifício é o teu corpo; tu és o sustentáculo da potência de Viṣṇu e o umbigo da imortalidade. Ó filho de Pāṇḍu, recitando com veracidade esta verdade como fórmula sagrada, deve-se então entrar e banhar-se no Oceano, senhor dos rios.”

Word by Word

• {'agniḥ': 'fire

• the sacrificial fire, primal source', 'ca': 'and', 'te': 'your', 'yoniḥ': 'womb

• causal source', 'iḍā': 'Idā

• sacrificial nourishment/oblation (also a Vedic term connected with ritual offering)', 'dehaḥ': 'body

• embodiment', 'retodhā': 'seed-holder

• bearer of generative essence', 'viṣṇoḥ': 'of Viṣṇu', 'amṛtasya': 'of immortality

• of nectar (amṛta)', 'nābhiḥ': 'navel

• central hub/source', 'evaṃ': 'thus

• in this manner', 'japan': 'muttering/reciting (a mantra)

• repeating in prayer', 'pāṇḍava': 'O Pāṇḍava

• descendant/son of Pāṇḍu', 'satyavākyaṃ': 'truthful utterance

• true statement', 'tataḥ': 'then

• thereafter', 'avagāheta': 'should enter into (water)

• should bathe/immerse', 'patiṃ': 'lord

• master', 'nadīnām': 'of rivers', 'patiṃ nadīnām': 'the lord of rivers (the Ocean/Sea)'}

Speaker

लोमश उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Lomaśa
• Pāṇḍava (son of Pāṇḍu)
• Agni
• Viṣṇu
• Ocean/Sea (samudra; pati of rivers)
• Idā (Vedic ritual term)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse links external purification (bathing in the ocean) with inner discipline: truthful speech and reverent recitation. It teaches that sacred acts gain ethical force when grounded in satya (truth) and performed with awareness of the cosmic-sacrificial order (Agni, yajña, Viṣṇu, amṛta).

What is happening in the narrative?

Lomaśa instructs a Pāṇḍava on how to approach the ocean as a holy place: one should recite a specific truthful formula praising the ocean’s sacred origins and cosmic role, and then immerse/bathe in it, treating the sea as the ‘lord of rivers’ worthy of ritual respect.