Puru

Cursed with premature old age but still hungry for pleasure, King Yayati asks his four sons to take on his decrepitude in exchange for their youth. The first three refuse, each earning a terrible curse. The youngest, Puru, agrees without hesitation.

Yayati has lived a thousand years with the vigor of his son's youth, indulging in every pleasure without straying from dharma. But he is a meticulous keeper of time, and he knows the moment of reckoning has arrived. He must call Puru and return what was borrowed.

King Yayati announces his youngest son, Puru, will inherit the throne, sparking immediate protest from the elders of the kingdom. They invoke the law of primogeniture, demanding to know why the eldest sons are being passed over. Yayati must justify a decision that seems to defy established dharma.

With the succession settled, Yayati hands the kingdom to Puru and prepares to leave the world of men. As he departs for the forest with ascetics, the future takes shape: the lineages of his five sons are named, defining peoples and kingdoms for generations to come.

Vaishampayana answers Janamejaya's request, tracing the Puru dynasty from its founder through conquests, exiles, and resurgences. He recounts how the lineage survived a thousand-year exile, was restored by a sage, and produced the kings who would father the epic's heroes.