It was a morning at Naimesharanya. The King Shounak had arranged for a yogya (a certain kind of Puja /worship) here, and all the Rishis were sitting after their work, talking to each other. Suddenly, there came Souti, the son of a charioteer. He was a great historian, and had travelled many places to learn about the Puranas, the Vedas and all the stories of the great races that ruled the Earth. When the Rishis saw him, they were very surprised but welcomed him heartily. He was very respectful towards the Rishis and touched their feet. The Rishis were very interested in learning all that Souti had learned in his travels, and they stood surrounding him. They asked him where he was coming from.
He said, "I have been to the Sarpayogya arranged by King Janamejaya where I heard the great story of the Mahabharata from Baishampayan, the holy student of Sri Vedavyasa. Then I went to see the holy battle field of the Mahabharata, where the Kurus and the Pandavas fought with each other. On completion of that, I went to various other holy places and finally I came here, as I respect all of you. Now tell me, my holy Fathers, which story should i tell you all? Should I recite the stories of the Gods and Goddesses, or should I narrate the histories of the great Kings that ruled this land? Or should I describe the society that existed?"
The Rishis said then, "We want to hear the story of the Mahabharata, the great creation of Maharshi Vedavyasa. It is said that it is the greatest literary work ever produced. We would like to bless ourselves by listening to this great epic!"
And so Souti, the great historian, started to narrate what he had heard from Baishampayan. He said, "We must first say our prayers to the Lord Brahma, the greatest of all Gods, to Narayan, to Shiva, to Devi (Shakti), and to Saraswati before starting with this great journey that I am about to take you on."
So they all prayed to the Gods and Souti started narrating his tale of the epic Mahabharata.
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