viz. the Island-born Krishna, addressed Yudhisthira, saying,--O son, do
thou recite this hymn consisting of the thousand and eight names of
Mahadeva, and let Maheswara be gratified with thee. In former days, O
son, I was engaged in the practice of severe austerities on the breast of
the mountains of Meru from desire of obtaining a son. It is this very
hymn that was recited by me. As the reward of this, I obtained the
fruition of all my wishes, O son of Pandu. Thou wilt also, by reciting
this same hymn, obtain from Sarva the fruition of all thy wishes.--After
this, Kapila, the Rishi who promulgated the doctrines that go by the name
of Sankhya, and who is honoured by the gods themselves, said,--I adore
Bhava with great devotion for many lives together. The illustrious Deity
at last became gratified with me and gave me knowledge that is capable of
aiding the acquirer in getting over rebirth.--After this, the Rishi named
Charusirsha, that dear friend of Sakra and known otherwise under the name
of Alamvana's son and who is filled with compassion, said,--I, in former
days, repaired to the mountains of Gokarna and sat myself to practise
severe penances for a hundred years. As the reward of those penances, I
obtained from Sarva, O son of king Pandu, a hundred sons, all of whom
were born without the intervention of woman, of well-restrained soul,
conversant with righteousness, possessed of great splendour, free from
disease and sorrow, and endued with lives extending over a hundred
thousand years--Then the illustrious Valmiki, addressing Yudhishthira,
said,--Once upon a time, in course of a dialectical disputation, certain
ascetics that were possessors of the homa fire denounced me as one guilty
of Brahmanicide. As soon as they had denounced me as such, the sin of
Brahmanicide, O Bharata, possessed me. I then, for cleansing myself,
sought the protection of the sinless Isana who is irresistible in energy.
I become cleansed of all my sins. That dispeller of all sorrows, viz.,
the destroyer of the triple city of the Asuras, said unto me,--Thy fame
shall be great in the world--Then Jamadagni's son, that foremost of all