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 |
श्रीमहेश्वर उवाच—विपाशा च वितस्ता च चन्द्रभागा इरावती। शतद्रूर्देविका सिन्धुः कौशिकी गौतमी तथा। यमुना नर्मदा चैव कावेरी च निम्नगा—एताः सर्वाः सरितोऽत्र सन्निहिताः। नदीनामुत्तमा पुण्यसलिला सरस्वती प्रकाशते, सागरसंयोगिनीति च कीर्त्यते; एताः सर्वसरितां प्रवराः स्मृताः।
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.