Shloka 79
Pitṛ-śrāddha-haviḥ-phala-nirdeśa
Offerings for Ancestors and Their Stated Results
हिरण्यरेता इति वै ऋषिभिर्विबुधैस्तथा । पृथिवी च तदा देवी ख्याता वसुमतीति वै
hiraṇyaretā iti vai ṛṣibhir vibudhais tathā | pṛthivī ca tadā devī khyātā vasumatīti vai ||
Bhishma nói: “Các bậc hiền triết và người trí tuệ quả đã gọi ngài là ‘Hiraṇyaretā’—đấng có tinh lực như vàng. Và khi ấy, nữ thần Đất cũng được xưng tụng là ‘Vasumatī’—đấng mang giữ của cải.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Names and epithets in the Mahabharata often encode ethical and cosmological meaning: ‘Hiraṇyaretā’ signals auspicious, life-generating potency, while ‘Vasumatī’ presents Earth as the rightful, nurturing foundation of prosperity—wealth is framed as something sustained by and owed to the Earth, to be used in support of dharma.
Bhishma is citing traditional testimony: sages and learned authorities designate a figure by the epithet ‘Hiraṇyaretā,’ and in the same context he notes that the Earth-goddess was then known as ‘Vasumatī.’ The verse functions as an explanatory gloss on revered names and their significance.