ess, good behaviour disappeared from among them.
And because they had become shameless and destitute of virtuous
propensities and good conduct and virtuous vows, forgiveness and
prosperity and morality forsook them in no time. And prosperity then, O
king, sought the gods, while adversity sought the Asuras. And when the
Daityas and the Danavas, deprived of sense by pride, were possessed by
adversity. Kali also sought to possess them. And, O son of Kunti,
overwhelmed with pride, and destitute of rites and sacrifices, and devoid
of reason and feeling, and their hearts full of vanity, destruction
overtook them soon. And covered with infamy, the Daityas were soon
exterminated. The gods, however, who were virtuous in their practices,
going to the seas, the rivers, the lakes and the holy spots, cleansed
themselves of all sins, O son of Pandu, by means of ascetic penances and
sacrifices and gifts and blessings, and obtained prosperity and the
consequence. And because the gods always performed sacrifices and holy
deeds abandoning every practice that was evil, and visited the tirthas,
as the consequence thereof they acquired great good fortune. Guided by
this, O king, do thou also, with thy brothers, bathe in tirthas, for then
thou wilt obtain prosperity once more. Even this is the eternal road.
And, O monarch, as king Nriga and Shivi and Ausinara and Bhagiratha and
Vasumanas and Gaya and Puru and Pururavas, by practising ascetic penances
and visiting tirthas and touching sacred waters and beholding illustrious
ascetics, obtained fame and sanctity and merit and wealth, so wilt thou
also obtain prosperity that is great. And as Ikshwaku with his sons,
friends and followers, as Muchukunda and Mandhatri and king Marutta, as
the gods through power of asceticism and the celestial Rishis also, had
all obtained fame, so wilt thou also obtain great celebrity. The sons of
Dhritarashtra, on the other hand, enslaved by sinfulness and ignorance,
will, without doubt, be soon exterminated like the Daityas.'"

SECTION XCV

Vaisampayana said, "The heroic sons of Pandu, accompanied by their
followers, proceeding from place to place, at last arrived at Naimisha. O
king, reaching the Gomati, the Pandavas bathed in the sacred tirtha of
that stream, and having performed their ablutions there, they gave away,
O Bharata, both kine and wealth! And repeatedly offering oblations of
water, O Bharata, to the gods, the pitris, and the Brahmanas, in the
t