Mahabharata — Vana Parva, Shloka 42

युधिष्ठिरस्य अर्जुनप्रेषण-युक्तिवर्णनम् | Yudhiṣṭhira’s Rationale for Sending Arjuna and Request to Dhaumya

Devanagari script

अश्वमेधमवाप्रोति त्रिरात्रोपोषितो नर: । गोसहस्रफलं विद्यात्‌ कुलं चैव समुद्धरेत्‌

Transliteration

aśvamedham avāpnoti trirātro-poṣito naraḥ | go-sahasra-phalaṁ vidyāt kulaṁ caiva samuddharet, nara-pate ||

Translation

古拉斯提亚说道：“大王啊，三夜持斋之人，便得阿湿婆美陀（Aśvamedha）大祭之功德。须知他亦得施舍千牛之果报，并能光耀、拔济其一族。”

Word by Word

• {'aśvamedham': 'the Aśvamedha (horse-sacrifice), a supreme royal Vedic rite

• here a benchmark of great merit', 'avāpnoti': 'attains, obtains', 'trirātra': 'three nights', 'upoṣitaḥ': 'one who has fasted/kept a religious fast', 'naraḥ': 'a man, person', 'go-sahasra': 'a thousand cows', 'phalam': 'fruit, result, merit', 'vidyāt': 'should know

• understand as (injunctive/optative sense)', 'kulam': 'family, lineage, clan', 'ca eva': 'and indeed', 'samuddharet': 'would raise up, redeem, uplift (spiritually/meritoriously)', 'nara-pate': 'O lord of men

Speaker

घुलस्त्य उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Ghūlastya (speaker)
• nara-pati (the king addressed)
• Aśvamedha (sacrifice)
• go-sahasra (a thousand cows; charitable gift)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches that disciplined austerity—specifically a three-night fast undertaken with religious intent—can generate merit comparable to grand public rites (Aśvamedha) and major charity (gift of a thousand cows), and that such merit is believed to benefit not only the practitioner but also their lineage.

What is happening in the narrative?

A speaker named Ghūlastya addresses a king and prescribes/commends a three-night fast as part of a sacred observance, describing the extraordinary spiritual rewards it yields—equating it with renowned sacrifices and donations and asserting its power to uplift one’s family line.