Shloka 20

Gaṅgādvāra-tīrtha, Ulūpī-saṃvāda, and Arjuna’s Dharma-Deliberation (गङ्गाद्वार-तीर्थम्, उलूपी-संवादः)

Devanagari script

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”

Transliteration

vaiśampāyana uvāca | yadi dattaṃ yadi hutaṃ vidyate yadi nas tapaḥ | tena tiṣṭhantu nagare pāṇḍavāḥ śaradāṃ śatam ||

Translation

หากพวกเราได้ให้ทานจริง หากได้บูชาไฟด้วยเครื่องสังเวยจริง และหากบุญแห่งตบะยังเหลืออยู่—ด้วยเดชแห่งบุญนั้น ขอให้เหล่าปาณฑพพำนักในนครนี้ตลอดร้อยฤดูสารท

Word by Word

यदिif

दत्तम्given (as a gift)

यदिif

हुतम्offered (in sacrifice), oblated

विद्यतेexists, is present

यदिif

नःof us, our

तपःausterity, penance

तेनby that, through that (merit)

तिष्ठन्तुlet (them) stay

नगरेin the city

पाण्डवाःthe Pandavas

शरदाम्of years (lit. of autumns)

शतम्a hundred

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Pāṇḍavas

city (nagara)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

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.

What is happening in the narrative?

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).