At the request of ›atånanda, Viśwāmitra tells him how Ahalyā was redeemed by Śrī Rāma and entertained him with the help of her husband. And Śatānanda in his turn commences narrating to Śrī Rāma the story of Viśwāmitra.

Śrī Rāma and others reach Mithilā and are received in advance by King Janaka, headed by his family priest, Śatānanda; Viśwāmitra satisfies their curiosity about the two princes of Ayodhyā.

At the intercession of the gods, Indra is supplied with testicles of a ram; Ahalyaā gets back her pristine celestial form at the very sight of Śrī Rāma, the moment he enters the hermitage, and the two divine brothers are entertained by the lady with the help of her husband.

Having stayed overnight at Viśālā as an honoured guest of Sumati,Śrī Rāma, accompanied by Viśwāmitra and the other sages, heads towards Mithilā (the capital of King Janaka) and, on reaching on the way a deserted hermitage and, inquiring about it, is told by Viśwāmitra how Ahalyā, wife of Sage Gautama, whose hermitage it was, was subjected to a curse by her husband.

Viśwāmitra tells Śrī Rāma how on the very site of the grove where Diti practised her austerities, Vi‹åla, a son of Ikswāku, built the city of Viśālā. Sumati, the contemporary ruler of Viśālā, receives Viśwāmitra and his party as his distinguished guests.

Disconsolate over the death of her sons, Diti embarks on a course of austerities at Kuśaplava with the permission of her husband, Sage Kaśyapa, with the object of securing a son capable of killing Indra. The latter on coming to know of her intention serves her during the period of her consecration and, taking advantage of her falling asleep on one occasion with her head in a wrong position, and thereby transgressing the rules of purity, enters her womb and carves the foetus.

Viśwāmitra tells Śrī Rāma how in the remote past the gods and the demons conjointly churned the ocean of milk, using Mount Mandara as the churning rod, how Lord ›iva drank off the deadly poison skimmed out of it, how as a result of that churning appeared Lord Dhanvantari, a bevy of Apsarās, the beverage known by the name of Vārunī, the horse Uccaihśravā the Kaustubha gem and nectar, and how the conflict of gods and the Daityas ended in the destruction of the latter.

Applauding Bhagīratha, Brahmā urges him to gratify the souls of his departed great grand-uncles by offering them the water of the Gangā, and after doing his bidding, Bhagīratha returns to his capital; the glory of hearing and reading the story of Gangā’s descent on earth.

Pleased with the asceticism of Bhagīratha, Lord Śiva receives the Gangā on His head and discharges it into Bindusarovara. Branching forth into seven streams it then accompanies Bhagīratha to Rasātala and liberates his forbears on the way.

Amśumān and his grandson, Bhagīratha, successively practise austerities for bringing down the Gangā to the terrestrial plane. Brahmā grants a boon to Bhagīratha and exhorts him to propitiate Lord Śiva and secure His consent to receive the Gangā on His head.