Lomasha said: -
1. O son of Kunti, having collected the sacrificial fuel and after performing the ritual duties of the day Bharadvaja entered his hermitage.
2. As his son was killed, the (sacrificial) fire, which used to welcome him every day, did not come that day to welcome him.
3. Having seen this change in the Agnihotra, that great ascetic thus spoke to that blind Sudra gate-keeper who was seated there.
4. “O Sudra, why does not the fire delight on seeing me? You too do not express delight as you always do? Is everything well in the hermitage?
5. I hope my foolish son had not gone to Raivya? Tell me all this quickly; misgivings fill my mind.
Sudra said: -
6. Your foolish son went to the great sage and Therefore, he lies prostrate being killed by a powerful Rakshasha.
7. He was pursued by a Rakshasha with uplifted spear; and he attempted to enter this room, but he was stopped at the door by me.
8. Thereupon being desirous to obtain water (in this room) in an unclean state, (he tried to force a passage, but his way being barred with my arms), he stood hopeless and (at that state) he was killed by the Rakshasha who held a spear in his hand.
Lomasha said: -
9. Having heard from the Sudra, of this great calamity, Bharadvaja, embracing his dead son, began to lament for him.
Bharadwaja said: -
10. For the good of the Brahmana you performed the severe austerities, so that the Vedas unstudied by any Brahmanas might be manifest in you.
11. Your conduct towards the Brahmanas had always been for their good and you had been always innocent in regard to all creatures. But at last you turned to be rude.
12. O child, I prohibited you from visiting the residence of Raivya, but you went there to visit it which was like the all-destroying death.
13. That greatly effulgent one knows me to be old and (he knew also) that I had only one son. But that wicked-minded one still became subject to anger.
14. I have been afflicted with the grief at my son's death on account of Raivya. O son, for your death I shall give up my life which is the most precious thing in the world.
15. As I give up my life on account of the grief at the death of my son, so will the eldest son of Raivya kill him, though he would be innocent.
16. Happy are those to whom children are never born! Without experiencing the grief at their son's death, they happily move about.
17. Who can in this world be more sinful than those, who from the grief at their son's death and thus becoming deprived of their sense, curse their dearest friends?
18. Having seen my son dead, I have cursed my dearest friend. What second man is there who meets with such a (great) calamity.
Lomasha said: -
19. Having thus variously lamented for his son, Bharadvaja cremated him and then he himself entered a blazing fire.
Thus ends the hundred and thirty-seventh chapter, the history of Yavakrit in the Tirthayatra of the Vana Parva.