Yudhishthira and Lomasha

Draupadi has spoken words that sound like atheism — questioning whether dharma bears any fruit at all. Yudhishthira responds not with anger but with a sustained argument: dharma must be followed for its own sake, not for its rewards. He cites the great rishis she has seen with her own eyes, warns her that doubting dharma is its own kind of hell, and commands her to destroy her doubt like mist.

Maharshi Lomasha travels to Indra's abode and sees Arjuna seated on half of Indra's throne. The sight puzzles him — how could a kshatriya, a mere warrior, attain such honor? Indra divines his thoughts and reveals the truth: Arjuna is Nara, the ancient rishi, and together with Narayana — Krishna — he has been born on earth to remove its burden and defeat the Nivatakavachas, asuras so powerful that even the gods cannot fight them.

Yudhishthira asks the sage Lomasha about his travels. Lomasha is pleased to reply — he has been sent by Indra himself with news of Arjuna. He tells Yudhishthira that he saw Arjuna seated on half of Indra's throne, that Arjuna has obtained the Brahmashira weapon from Rudra and other divine weapons from the guardians of the world, and that he has mastered the gandharva veda. Then Lomasha delivers Indra's message: Arjuna will return after accomplishing a great task for the gods, Yudhishthira should devote himself to austerities, his fear of Karna will be dispelled, and he should accept Lomasha's guidance on tirthas.

Lomasha arrives with a message from Indra himself — the king of the gods remembers Yudhishthira and invites him to visit the sacred tirthas. Overcome with delight, Yudhishthira declares that his mind was already made up: he will go.

Lomasha advises Yudhishthira to travel light for the pilgrimage. The king agrees — and orders the brahmanas, ascetics, and loyal citizens who followed him into exile to return to Hastinapura, entrusting their welfare to Dhritarashtra and Panchala.

Yudhishthira resolves to leave Kamyaka forest and begin the pilgrimage to the sacred tirthas. Before they can depart, Vyasa, Narada, and Parvata appear — three of the most powerful sages in existence — and give them instructions that go beyond mere travel: purify your minds, control your bodies, and go with friendship in your hearts. The Pandavas receive their blessings and, at the auspicious moment, set out eastward with their servants and chariots.

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.

Yudhishthira, hearing the name of King Sagara, presses Lomasha for the full story — how Sagara's relatives became the cause of something, and how the ocean itself was filled through Bhagiratha's efforts. The sage prepares to answer.

Sagara, tormented by the loss of his sixty thousand sons and the stalled sacrifice, commands his grandson Anshuman to retrieve the horse from hell. Anshuman descends through the torn earth, finds the sage Kapila and the horse, and bows before the ancient rishi — asking not just for the horse, but for water to purify his dead fathers.

After completing the sacrifice, Sagara is honored by the gods and hands the kingdom to his grandson Anshuman before departing to heaven. Anshuman rules well, then passes the throne to his son Dilipa — who, grieving for his dead ancestors, tries desperately to bring down the Ganga but fails, and eventually hands the burden to his son Bhagiratha before retiring to the forest.

Narada brings Sagara the news that his sixty thousand sons have been burned to ashes by Kapila's energy. Sagara steadies himself, recalling the words of Sthanu, and summons his grandson Anshuman — but before telling him about the dead, he reveals something else: he had already banished Anshuman's father, his own son Asamanja, for the welfare of the citizens. Yudhishthira asks why, and Lomasha recounts how Asamanja used to seize the infants of the city and throw them into the river.

In ancient times, the gods came to Nanda and found themselves surrounded by men who had gathered to see them. Led by Shakra, they did not wish to be seen — so they raised mountains to make the region inaccessible. Lomasha tells Yudhishthira that from that day, no one who has not performed austerities can even look at the mountain, let alone climb it.

On Mount Rishabha lived an ascetic named Rishabha, aged many hundreds of years and extremely prone to anger. When anyone addressed him, he commanded the mountain to shower stones on whoever spoke — and summoned the wind to ensure no sound was uttered at all. Lomasha tells Yudhishthira this story as he has heard it.

Following Lomasha's advice, Yudhishthira and his companions wash their limbs at Nanda, then journey to the sacred river Koushiki — the place where Vishvamitra once performed his terrible austerities.

Yudhishthira, hearing the name Rishyashringa, presses Lomasha for the full story: how a sage could be born from a deer, why Indra feared him, why the drought struck Lomapada's kingdom, and how the princess Shanta tempted the innocent forest-dweller. Lomasha agrees to tell everything.

At a sacrifice performed by Vishvakarma, the Self-created One gives the entire earth to the sage Kashyapa. The earth, furious at being handed to a mortal, threatens to descend into the underworld — and only Kashyapa's austerities can bring her back.

Lomasha shows Yudhishthira Kalinga, where the river Vaitarani flows and where Dharma himself once performed sacrifices. But this is also the place where Rudra seized the sacrificial animal and demanded it as his share — forcing the gods to negotiate with the destroyer.

The Pandavas and Draupadi descend into the Vaitarani river and offer oblations to their ancestors. When Yudhishthira emerges from the water, he finds that he has transcended the human — he can see all the worlds and hear the prayers of hermits three hundred thousand yojanas away.

Lomasha pronounces the benediction, and Yudhishthira does everything he was told — reciting the verse and ascending the altar before it can submerge. Then he goes to Mahendra mountain and spends the night there, completing this segment of the pilgrimage.

After crossing the ocean shore, Yudhishthira arrives at a sacred forest where the altar of Richika's son stands. He visits the holy sites of gods and ancestors, observes fasts, and gives away gems. Then, at the great tirtha of Prabhasa, he performs a twelve-day austerity — living on water and air, surrounded by flames — that draws the attention of the Vrishnis.

Yudhishthira and his brothers bathe in the Payoshni river and travel to Mount Vaidurya and the Narmada, seeking sacred tirthas. The sage Lomasha recounts the names of every beautiful site, and Yudhishthira donates thousands in riches to brahmanas at each one, completing a pilgrimage that earns them spiritual merit.

Lomasha points out the place of Sharyati's sacrifice, where the Ashvins once drank soma, and mentions that the sage Chyavana was so angered by Indra that he paralysed the king of the gods — and also won Sukanya as his wife. Yudhishthira, hearing this, asks for the full story: how did Chyavana paralyse Indra, why was he angered, and why were the Ashvins made drinkers of soma?

King Somaka has one hundred wives but only a single son, Jantu, born after a lifetime of effort. When an ant bite makes the child cry and the entire palace erupts in lamentation, the king is forced to confront the fragility of his entire lineage — and asks his priest if there is any ceremony, good or bad, that can give him one hundred sons.

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.

Yudhishthira bathes at Kurukshetra's gate with his brothers and is worshipped by the great rishis. He tells Lomasha he can see all the worlds — and from here, he can also see the foremost Pandava with white steeds. Lomasha confirms the vision and shows him the field of the great-souled sacrificer Kuru.

As Ushinara ascends the scales, the hawk reveals itself as Indra and the dove as Agni. They came to test his dharma. Indra proclaims that Ushinara's deed will be celebrated as long as men speak in this world. Lomasha then shows Yudhishthira the sacred site where it happened.

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.

Tormented by envy that his ascetic father receives no honour while a rival sage and his sons are celebrated, Yavakrita resolves to obtain the Vedas through sheer austerity rather than study. He burns his body in a great fire, disturbing Indra himself — who tries twice to dissuade him, first with advice, then with a parable of a sand bridge across the Ganga.

Lomasha, their guide through the wilderness, becomes confused — and Yudhishthira immediately reads the danger. He orders everyone to guard Draupadi, maintain absolute cleanliness, and then gives Bhima a direct command: protect her. Finally, he goes to the twins Nakula and Sahadeva, embraces them, and tells them not to be afraid.

The group has resolved to travel together, but Mount Gandhamadana looms ahead — a barrier that cannot be crossed by strength alone. Lomasha, the sage guiding them, reveals the only way through: not with chariots or even Bhima's arms, but with austerities.

Exhausted by their long journey through the wilderness, Draupadi and the Pandavas can go no further. Bhimasena commands his rakshasa son Ghatotkacha to carry them through the sky. With the help of other rakshasas, the party lifts off the earth and travels swiftly toward the hermitage of Badari, passing over mountains, forests, and the legendary northern Kuru.

The Pandavas descend from the rakshasas' shoulders and see the hermitage of Nara and Narayana — a place untouched by sunlight yet free of darkness, where hunger, thirst, cold, and heat do not exist. Yudhishthira approaches the maharshis with restraint and purity, and is welcomed with water, flowers, roots, and fruit. The Pandavas enter and dwell there, making offerings to gods and ancestors, and take great pleasure in watching Draupadi sport in that sacred place.

A fragrant sougandhika lotus drifts on the wind and lands before Draupadi. She shows it to Bhima and asks him to bring more if he finds them. By the time Yudhishthira notices the omens of battle gathering around them, Bhima is already gone — headed north-east, into the territory of the yakshas.

When the Pandava party finally reaches the sougandhika pond, they find Bhima standing on its banks with his club raised, surrounded by the bodies of the yakshas he has already slain. Yudhishthira embraces him — then warns him never to do such a thing again.

Kubera's guards arrive at the pond — gigantic, armed with rocks, ready for battle. But when they see Yudhishthira, Lomasha, and the assembled brahmanas, they do not attack. They prostrate themselves in humility, and Yudhishthira pacifies them.

Yudhishthira sets out north with his brothers, Draupadi, the brahmanas, Lomasha, and the rakshasas including Hidimba's son. They travel partly on foot and partly carried by the rakshasas, crossing mountains and difficult terrain, until on the seventeenth day they reach the sacred hermitage of the rajarshi Vrishaparva near Gandhamadana.

After leaving Vrishaparva, the Pandavas proceed on foot through a region teeming with animals, reaching Mount Shveta on the fourth day and then Mount Malyavan. They climb higher into Gandhamadana, a mountain so beautiful it resembles the pleasure garden of the gods, filled with every kind of tree, flower, bird, and pond.

The Pandavas settle on the slopes of the Himalayas, living on hermit food, fruits, deer meat, and honey. For five years they listen to Lomasha's words, witness marvels, and receive visits from hermits and charanas — a stable period of exile before the mountain's dangers stir.

Having resolved to leave, Yudhishthira bids farewell to the houses, rivers, lakes, and rakshasas of Gandhamadana — and vows to return after victory. Ghatotkacha carries the Pandavas and their brahmanas across mountains and waterfalls as they depart, guided by Lomasha and instructed by the sage Arshtishena.