olding the son of Kunti about to set out (on the
pious pilgrimage), approached him, O king, and said, 'Thou art about to
set out, O king, on thy journey to the sacred _tirthas_, along with thy
brothers and accompanied by the illustrious Rishi Lomasa. O king, it
behoveth thee, O son of Pandu, 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 worshipp