The Mahabharata/Book 1: Adi Parva/Section LX
Section LX.
( Adivansavatarana Parva continued. )
Sauti said, "Hearing that Janamejaya was installed in the snake-sacrifice, the learned Rishi Krishna-Dwaipayana went thither on the occasion. And he, the grand-father of the Pandavas, was born in an island of the Yamuna, of the virgin Kali by Sakti's son Parashara. And the illustrious one developed by his will alone his body as soon as he was born, and mastered the Vedas with the Angas, and the histories. And he readily obtained that which no one could obtain by asceticism, by the study of the Vedas, by vows, by fasting, by progeny, and by sacrifice. And the first of Veda-knowing ones, he divided the Veda into four parts. And the Brahamana Rishi had knowledge of the supreme Brahma, knew the past by intuition, was holy, and cherished truth. Of sacred deeds and great fame, he begat Pandu and Dhritarashtra and Vidura in order to continue the line of Shantanu.
"And the high-souled Rishi with his disciples all conversant with the Vedas and the Vedangas entered the sacrificial tent of the royal sage Janamejaya. And he saw that the king Janamejaya was seated in the sacrificial compound, like the god Indra, surrounded by numerous Sadasyas, by kings of various countries worshipping him with heads downwards, and by competent Ritwijas like unto Brahma himself. And the best of the Bharata race, the royal sage Janamejaya, beholding the Rishi come, advanced quickly with his followers and relatives in great joy. And the king with the approval of his Sadasyas gave the Rishi a golden seat like Indra to Vrihaspati (the spiritual guide of the celestials.) And when the Rishi, capable of granting boons and adored by the celestial Rishis themselves had been seated, the king of kings then worshipped him according to the rites of the shastras. And the king then offered him—his grand-father Krishna—who fully deserved them, Padya, Achmanya, Arghya, and kine. And accepting those offerings, from the Pandava Janamejay and ordering the kine also not to be slain, Vyasa became very much gratified. And the king after these adorations then bowed down to his great-grand-father, and sitting in joy asked him about his welfare. And the illustrious Rishi also, casting his eyes upon him and asking him about his welfare, then worshipped the Sadasyas, having been before worshipped by them all. And after all this, Janamejaya with all his Sadasyas, asked that first of Brahmanas, with joined hands, the following:—
'O Brahmana, thou hast seen with thy own eyes the acts of the Kurus and the Pandavas. I am desirous of hearing thee recite their history! What was the cause of the disunion amongst them of extraordinary deeds? Why also did that great war which was the death of countless creatures occur between all my grand-fathers—their clear sense over-clouded by fate? O excellent of Brahmanas, tell me all this in full, as everything had happened!'
"And hearing those words of Janamejaya, Krishna-Dwaipayana then directed his disciple Vaisampayana seated at his side, saying, 'The disunion that happened between the Kurus and the Pandavas of old, repeat all to him about as thou hast heard from me.'
"Then that bull amongst Brahmanas, at the command of his master, recited the whole of that old history unto the king, the Sadasyas, and all the princes and chieftains there assembled. And he told them all about the hostility and the utter extinction of the Kurus and the Pandavas."
And so ends the sixtieth Section in the Adivansavatarana of the Adi Parva.