Yayati

After Damayanti chooses Nala, the four gods — delighted by her choice — each grant Nala two boons: Indra gives him presence at sacrifices and supreme sacred goals; Agni gives him his presence whenever desired and resplendent worlds; Yama gives him taste of food and establishment in dharma; Varuna gives him his presence and a fragrant garland. The gods return to heaven, the kings depart, and Nala marries Damayanti, ruling righteously like Yayati.

Lomasha recites the Kuru genealogy and then tells Yudhishthira a cryptic saying from a pishacha woman about bathing at Bhutilaya. He reveals that the place where they stand is Kurukshetra's gate — a tirtha so sacred that bathing there cleanses all evil deeds and lets a man see all the worlds.

Ashtavakra enters King Janaka's court and declares his intent to defeat Bandi in debate. Janaka tests him with riddles — about the wheel of time, the wind and its offspring, and the nature of fish, eggs, stones, and rivers. Ashtavakra answers each one without hesitation, and Janaka recognizes him as no ordinary child.

A brahmana who abandoned his blind, aged parents to study the Vedas is sent by his devoted wife to a hunter in Mithila. The hunter reveals that the wife foresaw everything — and then tells the brahmana that leaving his parents was a grave sin. There is no higher dharma, the hunter says, than serving one's mother and father.