of a Snake-sacrifice. O King! give instant orders for the sacrifice. It is thus that thou canst avenge the death of thy father. And a very great favour shall have also been shown to me. For by that malignant wretch, O virtuous Prince, my business also was on one occasion obstructed while proceeding on account of my preceptor.'"
Sauti continued:—"The monarch having heard these words, was enraged with Takshaka. The speech of Utanka inflamed the prince, even as the sacrificial fire with clarified butter. Moved by grief also, in the presence of Utanka himself the prince asked his ministers the particulars of his father's journey to the regions of the blessed. And when he heard all the circumstances of his father's death from the lips of Utanka, he was overcome with pain and sorrow."
And thus ends the section called Paushya of the Adi Parva of the blessed Mahabharata.
Section IV.
( Pauloma Parva ).
Ugrasrava Sauti, the son of Lomaharshana, versed in the Puranas, being in the forest of Naimisha, at the twelve years' sacrifice of Saunaka surnamed Kulapati, stood before the Rishis in attendance. Having studied the Puranas with great pains and therefore acquainted with them thoroughly, with joined hands he addressed them thus, "I have graphically described to ye the history of Utanka which is one of the causes of King Janamejaya's Snake-sacrifice. What, reverend Sirs, do ye wish to hear? What shall I relate to ye?" The holy men replied, "O son of Lomaharshana, we shall ask thee and thou wilt reply unto us anxious to hear, recounting some excellent stories. Saunaka our reverend master is at present attending in the apartment of the holy fire. He is acquainted with those divine stories which relate to the gods and Asuras. He adequately knoweth the histories of men, serpents, and Gandharvas. Further, O Sauti, in this sacrifice that learned Brahmana is the chief. He is able, faithful to his vows, wise, a master of the shastras and the Aranyaka, a speaker of
