Shloka 3
Dhaumya’s Enumeration of Eastern Tīrthas
Prācī-diś Tīrtha-kathana
करतोयां समासाद्य त्रिरात्रोपोषितो नरः । अश्वमेधमवाप्रोति प्रजापतिकृतो विधि:,करतोयामें जाकर स्नान करके तीन रात उपवास करनेवाला मनुष्य अश्वमेधयज्ञका फल पाता है। यह ब्रह्माजीद्वारा की हुई व्यवस्था है
karatoyāṃ samāsādya trirātropoṣito naraḥ | aśvamedham avāpnoti prajāpati-kṛto vidhiḥ ||
Pulastya nói: “Người nào đến sông Karatoyā, tắm gội tại đó và giữ chay ba đêm sẽ đạt công đức của lễ tế Aśvamedha. Đây là pháp định do Prajāpati (Brahmā) thiết lập.”
पुलस्त्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that sincere pilgrimage combined with disciplined fasting can yield immense spiritual merit—comparable to a grand royal sacrifice—because such practices cultivate purity, restraint, and reverence within a divinely sanctioned moral order (vidhi).
In Pulastya’s discourse on sacred places and their fruits (tīrtha-māhātmya), he describes the Karatoyā as a powerful tīrtha: bathing there and fasting for three nights grants the merit of performing an Aśvamedha, an ordinance attributed to Prajāpati (Brahmā).