Shloka 59
Dhaumya’s Enumeration of Eastern Tīrthas
Prācī-diś Tīrtha-kathana
तत्राभिषेकं कुर्वाण: पितृदेवार्चने रत: । अश्वमेधमवाप्रोति गतिं च परमां व्रजेत्,राजन! तदनन्तर पर्वतश्रेष्ठ चित्रकूटमें सब पापोंका नाश करनेवाली मन्दाकिनीके तटपर पहुँचकर उसमें स्नान करे और देवताओं तथा पितरोंकी पूजामें लग जाय। इससे वह अश्वमेधयज्ञका फल पाता और परम गतिको प्राप्त होता है
tatrābhiṣekaṃ kurvāṇaḥ pitṛdevārcane rataḥ | aśvamedham avāpnoti gatiṃ ca paramāṃ vrajet, rājan |
Pulastya disse: “Ó rei, aquele que ali realiza o rito de consagração e permanece devotado ao culto dos antepassados e dos deuses alcança o mérito de um sacrifício Aśvamedha e vai ao estado mais elevado. Depois disso, tendo chegado ao melhor dos montes, Citrakūṭa, e alcançado a margem do Mandākinī—cujas águas destroem todos os pecados—deve banhar-se ali e aplicar-se a honrar os deuses e os antepassados. Assim, obtém o fruto do Aśvamedha e atinge o fim supremo.”
पुलस्त्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Sincere ritual purity and devoted worship of gods and ancestors at a sacred tīrtha can confer extraordinary merit—symbolically equated here with the fruit of the Aśvamedha—and orient a person toward the highest spiritual destiny.
Pulastya instructs the king about a sacred sequence of pilgrimage acts: performing consecration, bathing at the Mandākinī by Citrakūṭa, and engaging in worship of devas and pitṛs; he states the resulting reward as Aśvamedha-like merit and attainment of the supreme goal.