Shloka 12
युधिष्ठिरप्रश्नः—विश्वामित्रस्य ब्राह्मणत्वकौतूहलम् | Yudhiṣṭhira’s Inquiry on Viśvāmitra’s Attainment of Brāhmaṇya
तथैवास्य भयाद् बद्ध्वा वसिष्ठ: सलिले पुरा । आत्मानं मज्जयन् श्रीमान् विपाश: पुनरुत्थित:
tathaivāsya bhayād baddhvā vasiṣṭhaḥ salile purā | ātmānaṃ majjayan śrīmān vipāśaḥ punarutthitaḥ ||
Sinabi ni Yudhiṣṭhira: “Gayon din, noong unang panahon, dahil sa takot sa kanya, ang marangal na si Vasiṣṭha ay itinali ang sarili niyang katawan ng lubid at nagtangkang lumubog sa tubig. Ngunit siya’y muling umahon—napalaya sa silo—sa bisa ng ilog na yaon. Dahil sa bantog na gawang iyon ng dakilang-loob na si Vasiṣṭha, ang banal na ilog ay mula noon tinawag na ‘Vipāśā’ (‘Walang Silo’).”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even under intense fear and pressure, a person of spiritual strength and integrity is not ultimately overcome; the episode also frames how a righteous life and great deeds become memorialized in sacred geography, turning a place into a moral reminder.
Yudhiṣṭhira recounts an old incident: Vasiṣṭha, terrified (in the background of the Viśvāmitra–Vasiṣṭha hostility), ties himself with a rope and attempts to drown in a river, but the river releases him from the bond and he rises again; from this event the river becomes known as Vipāśā, ‘free from the noose.’