Chapter 12

“Sauti continued, ‘Ruru then asked, ‘O best of Dwijas, why was kingJanamejaya bent upon destroying the serpents?–And why and how were theysaved by the wise Astika? I am anxious to hear all this in detail.’

“The Rishi replied, ‘O Ruru, the important history of Astika you willlearn from the lips of Brahmanas.’ Saying this, he vanished.

“Sauti continued, ‘Ruru ran about in search of the missing Rishi, andhaving 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 wasgreatly confounded and seemed to be deprived of his senses. Regainingconsciousness, he came home and asked his father to relate the history inquestion. Thus asked, his father related all about the story.'”

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