andu, to take us with thee. Without thee, we
shall not be able, O son of the Kuru race, to visit them at any time.
Surrounded by dangers and difficult of access, they are infested by
beasts of prey. Those tirthas, O lord of men, are inaccessible to persons
in small parties. Foremost of all wielders of the bow, thy brothers are
ever brave. Protected by your heroic selves, we also would proceed to
them. Permit us to acquire, O lord of earth, through thy grace the
blessed fruit of tirthas. Protected by thy energy, let us, O king, be
cleansed of all our sins by visiting those tirthas and purified by baths
therein. Bathing in those tirthas, thou also, O Bharata, wilt acquire
without doubt the regions difficult of acquisition that Kartavirya and
Ashtaka, the royal sage Lomapada and the imperial and heroic Bharata only
had earned. In thy company, O king, we desire to behold Prabhasa and
other tirthas, Mahendra and other hills, Ganga and other rivers, and
Plaksha and other gigantic trees. If, O lord of men, thou hast any regard
for the Brahmanas, do thou our bidding. Thou wilt surely have prosperity
from this. O thou of mighty arms, the tirthas are infested by Rakshasas
that ever obstruct ascetic penances. It behoveth thee to protect us from
them. Protected by Lomasa and taking us with thee, go thou to all the
tirthas spoken of by Dhaumya and the intelligent Narada, as also all
those that have been spoken of by the celestial Rishi Lomasa, endued with
great ascetic wealth, and be thou, by this, cleansed of all thy sins."

"Thus addressed respectfully by them, the king--that bull amongst the
sons of Pandu--surrounded by his heroic brothers headed by Bhima, with
tears of joy in his eyes, said unto all those ascetics, 'Let it be so.'
With the permission then of Lomasa, as also of his priest Dhaumya, that
foremost of Pandu's sons with soul under complete control, resolved,
along with his brothers and Drupada's daughter of faultless features, to
set out. Just at this time, the blessed Vyasa, as also Parvata and
Narada, all endued with high intelligence, came to Kamyaka for seeing the
son of Pandu. Beholding them, king Yudhishthira worshipped them with due
rites. And worshipped by the monarch thus, those blessed ones, addressing
Yudhishthira, said, 'O Yudhishthira, O Bhima, and ye twins, banish all
evil thoughts from your minds. Purify your hearts and then set out for
the tirthas. The Brahmanas have said that the observance of regulatio