Vaishampayana said: O king, thereupon those dwellers of the forest, those Brahmanas, seeing that the son of Kunti was about to, came to him and spoke these words.

“O king, you are going to the sacred Tirthas with your brothers and with the illustrious Rishi Lomasha.

O great king, O Pandava, O descendant of Kuru, you should take us with you. Without you we shall never able to visit them.

O ruler of men, they are full of dangers and abound in wild beasts; they are inaccessible and are to be reached through dragged ways. Men in small parties cannot reach these Tirthas.

O undeteriorating one, your brothers are heroes, they are foremost wielders of bows. Protected by you who are all heroes, we shall also be able to go.

O ruler of earth, O king, through your favour we shall acquire the happy fruits of Tirthas and (sacred) forests.

O king, protected by your prowess, let us be cleansed of all our sins by visiting those Tirthas and by purifying ourselves by bathing therein,

O descendant of Bharata, O king, having bathed in these Tirthas you too will certainly obtain those inaccessible regions obtained by Kartavirya, Ashtaka, the royal sage Lomapada and the imperial and heroic Bharata.

Prabhasa and other Tirthas, Mahendra and other mountains, Ganga and other rivers, Plaksha and other lords of forests (trees). O great king, we desire to see all these with you. O ruler of men, if you have any regard of the Brahmanas. Then speedily do what we say. You will obtain prosperity through it.

O mighty armed hero, Tirthas are infested by Rakshasas ever prone to obstruct ascetic austerities. You should protect us from them.

O ruler of men visit all the Tirthas spoken of by the greatly intelligent Dhaumya and also those spoken of by the greatly ascetic celestials Rishi Lomasha. Protected by Lomasha and accompanied by us, be cleansed of all sins.” Having been thus addressed by them, the king (Yudhishthira) was filled with tears of joy. Surrounded by his heroic brothers headed by Bhimasena that foremost of Pandavas (Yudhishthira) said to all those Rishis “So be it."

With the permission of Lomasha and also with that of the priest Dhumya that selfcontrolled eldest Pandava with his brothers,

And with faultless featured Draupadi made up his mind to start. At that very time the greatly exalted Vyasa, Parvata and Narada, all endued with great intelligence, came to the Kamyaka (forest) with the desire of seeing the Pandavas. the king Yudhishthira worshipped them all in due form. When the exalted ones were all duly worshipped, they thus spoke to Yudhishthira,

"O Yudhishthira, O the twins, O Bhima, banish all evil thoughts from your minds. Purify your hearts and thus being purified go to the Tirthas.

The Brahmanas have said that to regulate one's body is the observance of human vows and to purify one's mind and understanding is the observance of celestials vows.

O ruler of men, the mind which is free from all evil thoughts is highly pure. Therefore bearing friendly feelings towards all the purifying yourselves, visit the Tirthas.

Observing human vows in respect of your body and purifying your mind by observing the celestials vows, acquire the fruits of Tirthas as recited (to you).

Saying “So be it," the Pandavas with Krishna (Draupadi) caused all those celestials and human Rishis to perform propitiatory rites.

O king of kings, then touching the feet of Lomasha, of Dvaipayana (Vyasa) of Narada and of the celestials Rishi Parvata.

Those heroes, accompanied by Dhaumya and other dwellers of the forest, started on their journey on the day following the full moon of Agrahayana in which the constellation Pausha was in ascendance.

Clad in barks and skins, putting on impenetrable armours the heroic sons of Pandu with matted-locks on their heads, with quivers, arrows swords and other weapons, accompanied by Indrasena and other attendants, with fourteen chariots, with a number of cooks and servants of other classes, O Janamejaya, started with their faces turned towards the east.