it hath been so said
by Vyasa himself of mind that is immeasurable. This history is recited in
the present age and will be recited in the future. They that hear it,
read, have sons and servants always obedient to them and doing their
behests. All sins that are committed by body, word, or mind, immediately
leave them that hear this history. They who hear, without the spirit of
fault finding, the story of the birth of the Bharata princes, can have no
fear of maladies, let alone the fear of the other world.

"For extending the fame of the high-souled Pandavas and of other
Kshatriyas versed in all branches of knowledge, high spirited, and
already known in the world for their achievements, Krishna-Dwaipayana,
guided also by the desire of doing good to the world, hath composed this
work. It is excellent, productive of fame, grants length of life, is
sacred and heavenly. He who, from desire of acquiring religious merit,
causeth this history to be heard by sacred Brahmanas, acquireth great
merit and virtue that is inexhaustible. He that reciteth the famous
generation of the Kurus becometh immediately purified and acquireth a
large family himself, and becometh respected in the world. That Brahmana
who regularly studies this sacred Bharata for the four months of the
rainy season, is cleansed from all his sins. He that has read the Bharata
may be regarded as one acquainted with the Vedas.

"This work presents an account of the gods and royal sages and sacred
regenerate Rishis, the sinless Kesava; the god of gods, Mahadeva and the
goddess Parvati; the birth of Kartikeya who sprang from union of Parvati
with Mahadeva and was reared by many mothers; the greatness of Brahmanas
and of kine. This Bharata is a collection of all the Srutis, and is fit
to be heard by every virtuous person. That learned man who reciteth it to
Brahmanas during the sacred lunations, becometh cleansed of all sins,
and, not caring for heaven as it were, attaineth to a union with Brahma.
He that causeth even a single foot of this poem to be heard by Brahmanas
during the performance of a Sraddha, maketh that Sraddha inexhaustible,
the Pitris becoming ever gratified with the articles once presented to
them. The sins that are committed daily by our senses or the mind, those
that are committed knowingly or unknowingly by any man, are all destroyed
by hearing the Mahabharata. The history of the exalted birth of the
Bharata princes is called the Mahabharata. He who k