SECTION XII

(Pauloma Parva continued)

"Sauti continued, 'Ruru then asked, 'O best of Dwijas, why was king Janamejaya bent upon destroying the serpents?--And why and how were they saved by the wise Astika? I am anxious to hear all this in detail.'

"The Rishi replied, 'O Ruru, the important history of Astika you will learn from the lips of Brahmanas.' Saying this, he vanished.

"Sauti continued, 'Ruru ran about in search of the missing Rishi, and having failed to find him in all the woods, fell down on the ground, fatigued. And revolving in his mind the words of the Rishi, he was greatly confounded and seemed to be deprived of his senses. Regaining consciousness, he came home and asked his father to relate the history in question. Thus asked, his father related all about the story.'"

So ends the twelfth section in the Pauloma Parva of the Adi Parva.