and sat myself to practise severe penances for a hundred years.  As the reward of those penances, I obtained from Sarva, O son of king Pandu, a hundred sons, all of whom were born without the intervention of woman, of well-restrained soul, conversant with righteousness, possessed of great splendour, free from disease and sorrow, and endued with lives extending over a hundred thousand years—­Then the illustrious Valmiki, addressing Yudhishthira, said,—­Once upon a time, in course of a dialectical disputation, certain ascetics that were possessors of the homa fire denounced me as one guilty of Brahmanicide.  As soon as they had denounced me as such, the sin of Brahmanicide, O Bharata, possessed me.  I then, for cleansing myself, sought the protection of the sinless Isana who is irresistible in energy.  I become cleansed of all my sins.  That dispeller of all sorrows, viz., the destroyer of the triple city of the Asuras, said unto me,—­Thy fame shall be great in the world—­Then Jamadagni’s son, that foremost of all righteous persons, shining like the Sun with blazing splendour in the midst of that conclave of Rishis, said unto the son of Kunti these words;—­I was afflicted with the sin, O eldest son of Pandu, of Brahmanicide for having slain my brothers who were all learned Brahmanas.  For purifying myself, I sought the protection, O king, of Mahadeva.  I hymned the praises of the great Deity by reciting his names.  At this, Bhava became gratified with me and gave me a battle-axe and many other celestial weapons.  And he said unto me,—­Thou shalt be freed from sin and thou shalt be invincible in battle; Death himself shall not succeed in overcoming thee for thou shalt be freed from disease.—­Even thus did the illustrious and crested Deity of auspicious form said unto me.  Through the grace of that Deity of supreme intelligence I obtained all that He had said.  Then Viswamitra said,—­I was formerly a Kshatriya.  I paid my adorations to Bhava with the desire of becoming a Brahmana Through the grace of that great Deity I succeeded in obtaining the high status of a Brahmana that is so difficult to obtain.—­Then the Rishi Asita-Devala, addressing the royal son of Pandu, said,—­In former days, O son of Kunti, through the curse of Sakra, all my merit due to the acts of righteousness I had performed, was destroyed.  The puissant Mahadeva it was who kindly gave me back that merit together with great fame and a long life.—­The illustrious Rishi Gritsamada, the dear friend of Sakra, who resembled the celestial preceptor Vrihaspati himself in splendour, addressing Yudhishthira of Ajamidha’s race said,—­The inconceivable Sakra had, in days of yore, performed a sacrifice extending over a thousand years.  While that sacrifice was going on, I was engaged by Sakra in reciting the Samans.  Varishtha, the son of that Manu who sprung from the eyes of Brahma, came to that sacrifice and addressing me, said.—­O foremost of regenerate persons, the Rathantara is not being recited properly by thee.  O best of