“This tale is told now by some, and others will tell it hereafter; and one who heeds it has obedient sons and devoted, kindly servants. Sin committed by body, speech, and mind — the man who hears this tale quickly abandons all of it. For those who hear the great tale of the Bharata line without envy, there is no fear of disease — whence then fear of the other world? By Krishna-Dvaipayana, desiring to do good, this was created — bestowing prosperity, fame, long life, heaven, and merit — by him who spreads throughout the world the fame of the great-souled Pandavas and of other kshatriyas rich in wealth and prowess. As the lord ocean and the Himalaya mountain are both famed as repositories of jewels, so it is said of the Bharata. The learned man who, at the parvans (lunar festivals), recites this to brahmanas, he, cleansed of sin and having conquered heaven, goes on to union with Brahman. He who, at the shraddha, recites to brahmanas even a single foot of a verse of it — his shraddha becomes inexhaustible and shall serve the fathers as well. Whatever sin a man, acting in this way and that, commits in a day through ignorance — that sin, upon merely hearing the tale of Mahabharata, dissolves. 'The Great Birth of the Bharatas' — for that it is called 'Mahabharata'; whoever knows this etymology of the name is freed from all sins. For three years, always rising early for his labor, the sage Krishna-Dvaipayana composed this supreme tale, the Mahabharata. O bull of the Bharata line, whatever there is here of dharma, of wealth, of desire, and of liberation — that is found elsewhere too; and whatever is not here, is nowhere at all.”