Shloka 39

Ārṣṭiṣeṇa’s Siddhi and the Tīrtha-Boons; Sindhudvīpa–Devāpi Brāhmaṇya; Viśvāmitra’s Tapas Begins

Devanagari script

इति श्रीमहाभारते शल्यपर्वणि गदापर्वणि बलदेवतीर्थयात्रायां सारस्वतोपाख्यान एकोनचत्वारिंशो5ध्याय:

Transliteration

iti śrīmahābhārate śalyaparvaṇi gadāparvaṇi baladevatīrthayātrāyāṃ sārasvatopākhyāna ekonacatvāriṃśo 'dhyāyaḥ

Translation

Sa gayon nagwakas ang ika-tatlumpu’t siyam na kabanata, ang salaysay na Sārasvata, sa loob ng pagsasalaysay ng paglalakbay-dambana ni Balarāma sa mga banal na tawiran, sa bahaging Gada ng Śalya Parva ng kagalang-galang na Mahābhārata.

Word by Word

इतिthus; end-quote marker

श्रीमहाभारतेin the holy Mahabharata

शल्यपर्वणिin the Shalya Parva

गदापर्वणिin the Gada Parva (section)

बलदेवतीर्थयात्रायाम्in (the account of) Baladeva's pilgrimage to sacred fords

सारस्वतोपाख्यानेin the Sarasvata episode (sub-narrative)

एकोनचत्वारिंशःthirty-ninth

अध्यायःchapter

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Mahābhārata

Śalya Parva

Gadā-parvan (Gadāparva)

Baladeva (Balarāma)

Tīrthayātrā (pilgrimage)

Sārasvata (Sārasvatopākhyāna)

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?

This line is a colophon rather than a didactic verse: it emphasizes the Mahābhārata’s traditional organization (parva, section, episode, chapter). Indirectly, it highlights the importance of tīrthayātrā (pilgrimage) and remembered sacred narratives as a means of moral and spiritual orientation amid the larger war context.

What is happening in the narrative?

The text is marking closure: the thirty-ninth chapter ends here, identified as the Sārasvata episode within Balarāma’s pilgrimage narrative, situated in the Gada section of the Śalya Parva.