Shloka 7

Chatra–Upānah Dāna: Origin Narrative

Jamadagni–Reṇukā–Sūrya Saṃvāda

Devanagari script

सर्वेषु तीर्थेष्ववधूतपापा जम्मुस्ततो ब्रह्मसर: सुपुण्यम्‌ । देवस्य तीर्थे जलमग्निकल्पा विगाह्ा ते भुक्तबिसप्रसूना:

Transliteration

sarveṣu tīrtheṣv avadhūta-pāpā jamnus tato brahmasaraḥ supuṇyam | devasya tīrthe jalam agni-kalpā vigāhya te bhukta-bisa-prasūnāḥ ||

Translation

毗湿摩说道：他们在诸圣渡沐浴，洗尽罪垢之后，便自阎牟那河（Yamunā）前往至为清净的梵池（Brahmasaras）。在那位神祇的圣渡处，那些苦行者光辉如火，入水沐浴，并以莲茎与莲花为食以自持。

Word by Word

• {'sarveṣu': 'in all', 'tīrtheṣu': 'at sacred fords/pilgrimage-places', 'avadhūta-pāpāḥ': 'having shaken off/washed away sins', 'yamnuḥ (yamunā)': 'the river Yamunā', 'tataḥ': 'then, from there', 'brahmasaraḥ': 'Brahmasaras (a sacred lake/tīrtha)', 'supuṇyam': 'exceedingly meritorious, very holy', 'devasya': 'of the deity

• divine', 'tīrthe': 'at the sacred place', 'jalam': 'water', 'agni-kalpāḥ': 'like fire

• fiery-brilliant (in austerity/tejas)', 'vigāhya': 'having plunged into, having bathed/immersed', 'te': 'they (those sages)', 'bhukta': 'eaten, consumed', 'bisa': 'lotus-stalk/fibres', 'prasūnāḥ': 'flowers'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• ṛṣayaḥ (sages)
• Yamunā (river)
• Brahmasaras (tīrtha/lake)
• deva (deity, unspecified)
• tīrtha (sacred ford)
• jala (water)
• agni (fire, as simile)
• bisa (lotus-stalk)
• prasūna (lotus-flowers)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Purification is pursued through disciplined sacred practice—bathing at tīrthas and living austerely. The sages’ radiance ‘like fire’ signals inner power born of tapas, while their simple food (lotus-stalks/flowers) reflects restraint and non-harm.

What is happening in the narrative?

A group of sages completes bathing at various tīrthas, departs from the Yamunā, reaches the highly sacred Brahmasaras, bathes there at the deity’s tīrtha, and then eats lotus-stalks and lotus-flowers as their sustenance.