Souti Offers to Narrate Tales to the Sages
The suta Ugrashrava, a master of ancient lore, arrives at a great twelve-year sacrifice. He offers to tell the assembled sages any tale they wish, but they ask him to wait for their chief priest, the revered Shounaka, to take his seat.
The sacrifice in the forest of Naimisharanya had been going on for twelve years. The sages there were engaged in a ritual of immense duration and power. Into this gathering came Ugrashrava, the son of Lomaharshana. He was a suta — a charioteer and bard, a keeper of genealogies and histories. He had spent great labour in learning the Puranas, the ancient compendiums of myth and legend, and knew them well.
He stood before the assembly of sages, folded his hands in respect, and asked a simple, open-ended question: “What do you wish to hear? What shall I tell?”
The sages were eager. They replied that they wished to hear excellent tales, and that he would be the one to tell them. But they had a condition. Their kulapati (chief of the clan), the revered Brahmana Shounaka, was not yet present. He was still in the room with the holy fire, completing his duties. This man, they explained, was not just their leader but the chief priest of the entire sacrifice. He was capable, faithful to his vows, and learned in all the sacred texts — the Vedas and the Aranyakas (forest treatises). He was truthful, a hermit strict in his austerities, calm, and respected by all.
“We must wait for him,” the sages told Ugrashrava, whom they addressed as Souti. “When he has taken the honoured seat meant for the preceptor, you will reply to what the best of the Brahmanas asks you.”
Souti agreed without hesitation. “So it shall be. When that great-souled preceptor has sat down, I shall narrate, as asked by him, all the sacred stories on a wide variety of subjects.”
They waited. Shounaka finished all the ritual actions in accordance with the proper rites. He prayed to the gods. He offered water to the ancestors. Then he came to the main place of sacrifice, where Souti was seated before the assembly of brahmarshis — sages who were inflexible and successful in their austerities. Shounaka took his place among the officiating priests and their assistants. When he was seated, he was ready to listen. He spoke, and the stage was set for the tales to begin.