Pururava

As Yudhishthira journeys through the wilderness, the sage Lomasha begins describing the sacred sites that lie ahead — places where gods performed austerities, rivers served a rishi, and the Ganga herself splintered a mountain. Each spot carries its own history, and together they form a path that might lead the anxious king to peace.

Yudhishthira grieves that those who abandon dharma sometimes prosper. Lomasha answers him not with comfort but with a warning: prosperity without dharma is a slow poison. He traces the chain of destruction — insolence to vanity to anger to shamelessness to ruin — and tells Yudhishthira that the path to lasting prosperity runs through tirthas, austerities, and the example of the righteous kings who came before him.