Mahabharata · Chapter 13.126
nānāvarṇairupetānāṃ gavāṃ kiṃ munisattama /
kapilāḥ sarvavarṇeṣu variṣṭhatvamavāpnuvan //
vyāsa uvāca /
śṛṇu putra yathā goṣu variṣṭhāḥ kapilāḥ smṛtāḥ /
kapilatvaṃ ca samprāptāḥ pūjyāści satataṃ nṛṣu //
agniḥ purāpacakrāma devebhya iti naḥ śrutam /
devebhyo māṃ chādayata śaraṇyāḥ śaraṇaṃ gatam //
ūcustāḥ sahitāstatra svāgataṃ tava pāvakaḥ /
iha guptastvamasmābhirna devairupalapsyase //
atha devā vivitsantaḥ pāvakaṃ paricakramuḥ /
goṣu guptaṃ ca vijñāya tāḥ kṣipramupatasthire //
yuṣmāsu nivasatyagniriti gāḥ samacūcudan /
prakāśyatāṃ hutavaho lokānna cchettumarhatha //
evamastvityunujñāya pāvakaṃ samadarśayan //
adhigamya pāvakaṃ tuṣṭāste devāḥ sadya eva tu /
agniṃ pracodayāmāsuḥ kriyatāṃ goṣvanugrahaḥ //
gavāṃ tu yāsāṃ gātreṣu pāvakaḥ samavasthitaḥ /
kapilatvamanuprāptāḥ sarvaśreṣṭhatvameva ca //
mahāphalatvaṃ loke ca dadau tāsāṃ hutāśanaḥ / tasmāddhi sarvavarṇānāṃ kapilāṃ gāṃ pradāpaya /
śrotriyāya praśāntāya prayatāyāgnihotriṇe //
yāvanti romāṇi bhanti dhenvā yugāni tāvanti punāti dātṝn /
pratigrahītṝṃśca punāti dattā śiṣṭe tu gaurvai pratipādanena //
Original text: Mahābhārata (southern recension) · Edition: Śrīman Mahābhāratam, ed. T. R. Krishnacharya and T. R. Vyasacharya, Nirnaya Sagar Press, Bombay 1906–1910; e-text by SARIT (Shrinivasa Varakhedi and others) · SARIT: Search and Retrieval of Indic Texts · SARIT (e-text) via Internet Archive · CC BY-SA 3.0