laswa and it was for this
also that king came to be called by the name of Dhundhumara. And indeed,
the name he assumed was no empty one but was literally true.

"I have now told thee all that thou hadst asked me, viz., all about that
person in consequence of whose act the story of Dhundhu's death hath
become famous. He that listeneth to this holy history connected with the
glory of Vishnu, becometh virtuous and obtaineth children. By listening
to this story on particular lunations, one becometh blessed with long
life and great good fortune. And freed from every anxiety one ceaseth to
have any fear of diseases."

SECTION CCIV

Vaisampayana said, "O thou foremost of the Bharata race, king Yudhisthira
then asked the illustrious Markandeya a difficult question about
morality, saying, 'I desire to hear, O holy one, about the high and
excellent virtue of women. I desire to hear from thee, O Brahmana,
discourse about the subtle truths of morality. O regenerate Rishi, O best
of men, the Sun, the Moon, the Wind, the Earth, the Fire, the father, the
mother, the preceptor--these and other objects ordained by the gods,
appear to us as Deities embodied! All these that are reverend ones are
worthy of our best regard. So also is the woman who adoreth one lord. The
worship that chaste wives offer unto their husbands appeareth to me to be
fraught with great difficulty. O adorable one, it behoveth thee to
discourse to us of the high and excellent virtue of chaste wives--of
wives who restraining all their senses and keeping their hearts under
complete control regard their husbands as veritable gods. O holy and
adorable one, all this appears to me to be exceedingly difficult of
accomplishment. O regenerate one, the worship that sons offer to their
mothers and fathers and that wives offer to their husbands, both seem to
me to be highly difficult. I do not behold anything that is more
difficult than the severe virtue of chaste women. O Brahmana, the duties
that women of good behaviour discharge with care and the conduct that is
pursued by good sons towards their fathers and mothers appear to me to be
most difficult of performance. Those women that are each devoted to but
one lord, they that always speak the truth, they that undergo a period of
gestation for full ten months--there is nothing, O Brahmana, that is more
difficult than that is done by these. O worshipful one, women bring forth
their offspring with great hazard to themselves