Uddalaka

Pregnant and poor, Sujata asks her husband Kahoda how they will survive after the child is born. Kahoda goes to King Janaka's court to seek wealth — but Bandi, a skilled debater, defeats him in a contest, and Kahoda is drowned in the waters. Uddalaka learns of the defeat and tells Sujata to keep it secret from her son.

Yudhishthira asks Lomasha to explain the power of the brahmana who vanquished Bandi and why he was born with eight deformities. Lomasha tells the story: Kahoda, a devoted disciple of Uddalaka, marries Uddalaka's daughter Sujata, and their unborn child — radiant as fire — speaks from the womb to correct his father's recitation. Insulted before his own students, Kahoda curses the child to be crooked in eight ways.

For twelve years, Ashtavakra believed Uddalaka was his father and Shvetaketu his brother. Then Shvetaketu saw him on Uddalaka's lap, grasped him by the hand, and told him the truth: "This is not your father's lap." Weeping, Ashtavakra goes to his mother, who finally tells him everything about Kahoda's defeat and drowning at Janaka's court.