Chapter 1
Om! After having bowed down to Narayana, and Nara, the most exalted malebeing, and also to the goddess Saraswati, must the word Jaya be uttered.
Chapter 2
“Vaisampayana said,–“Janardana deserving the worship of all, havinglived happily at Khandavaprastha for some time, and having been treatedall the while with respectful love and affection by the sons of Pritha,became desirous one day of leaving Khandavaprastha to behold his father.
Chapter 3
“Vaisampayana said,–“Then Maya Danava addressed Arjuna, that foremost of successful warriors, saying,–‘I now go with thy leave, but shall comeback soon.
Chapter 4
“Vaisampayana said,–“Then that chief of men, king Yudhishthira, enteredthat palatial sabha having first fed ten thousand Brahmanas withpreparations of milk and rice mixed with clarified butter and honey withfruits and roots, and with pork and venison.
Chapter 5
“Vaisampayana said,–“While the illustrious Pandavas were seated in thatSabha along with the principal Gandharvas, there came, O Bharata, untothat assembly the celestial Rishi Narada, conversant with the Vedas and Upanishadas, worshipped by the celestials acquainted with histories and Puranas, well-versed in all that occurred in ancient kalpas (cycles), conversant with Nyaya (logic) and the truth of moral science, possessinga complete knowledge of the six Angas (viz., pronunciation, grammar,prosody, explanation of basic terms, description of religious rites, andastronomy).
Chapter 6
“Vaisampayana said,–At the conclusion of Narada’s words, kingYudhishthira the just worshipped him duly; and commanded by him themonarch began to reply succinctly to the questions the Rishi had asked.
Chapter 7
“Narada said,–the celestial assembly room of Sakra is full of lustre. Hehath obtained it as the fruit of his own acts. Possessed of the splendourof the sun, it was built, O scion of the Kuru race, by Sakra himself.
Chapter 8
“Narada said,–‘O Yudhisthira, I shall now describe the assembly house ofYama, the son of Vivaswat, which, O son of Pritha, was built byViswakarma. Listen now to me. Bright as burnished gold, that assemblyhouse, O monarch, covers an area of much more than a hundred yojanas.
Chapter 9
‘Narada said–O Yudhishthira, the celestial Sabha of Varuna isunparalleled in splendour. In dimensions it is similar to that of Yama.Its walls and arches are all of pure white. It hath been built byViswakarma (the celestial architect) within the waters.
Chapter 10
“Narada said,–‘Possessed of great splendour, the assembly house ofVaisravana, O king, is a hundred yojanas in length and seventy yojanas inbreadth. It was built, O king, by Vaisravana himself using his asceticpower.