Om! Having bowed down to Narayana and Nara, the most exalted male being, and also to the goddess Saraswati, must the word Jaya be uttered.
Ugrasrava, the son of Lomaharshana, surnamed Sauti, well-versed in the Puranas, bending with humility, one day approached the great sages of rigid vows, sitting at their ease, who had attended the twelve years’ sacrifice of Saunaka, surnamed Kulapati, in the forest of Naimisha. Those ascetics, wishing to hear his wonderful narrations, presently began to address him who had thus arrived at that recluse abode of the inhabitants of the forest of Naimisha. Having been entertained with due respect by those holy men, he saluted those Munis (sages) with joined palms, even all of them, and inquired about the progress of their asceticism. Then all the ascetics being again seated, the son of Lomaharshana humbly occupied the seat that was assigned to him. Seeing that he was comfortably seated, and recovered from fatigue, one of the Rishis beginning the conversation, asked him, ‘Whence comest thou, O lotus-eyed Sauti, and where hast thou spent the time? Tell me, who ask thee, in detail.’
Accomplished in speech, Sauti, thus questioned, gave in the midst of that big assemblage of contemplative Munis a full and proper answer in words consonant with their mode of life.
The Mahabharata Adi Parva, Section I, translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli
For June 2025’s Book Club, the selection is from Vedic literature. The Mahabharata Adi Parva is an epic poem concerning the Bharatas, which were a Vedic tribe that existed in the second millennium BCE. The reading is the I-XX of the Adi Parva.
Sanskrit: Adi Parva
English translations: Book 1: Adi Parva and Vol I Adi Parva target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”
As always you may read any translation that you desire.
For reference:
On Wikipedia: Adi Parva
On Britannica: Mahabharata
On Wikipedia: Vedic Sanskrit
Whitney: Sanskrit Grammar
Discussion will start and continue in the Forums, and we will meet via Zoom on Tuesday, June 24th at 11 a.m. EDT.
