8. Ruru

Chyavana had a son named Pramati and Pramati had a son named Ruru.

There was a saint named Sthulakesha. Once, a newborn female baby was left outside his hermitage by Menaka, the celestial dancer. This child was the result of Menaka's secret intimacy with the Gandharva King Vishwavashu. Menaka was forced to abandon the child, due to a sense of shame.

Sage Sthulakesha picked up the child lying outside his hermitage, named her Pramadvara and brought her up. She grew up to be a young woman.

Ruru happened to see Pramadvara and fell in love with her. He conveyed his desire to his father Pramati, who took up the matter with Sage Sthulakesha. The marriage was agreed upon and a date was also fixed. 

However, before the marriage could take place, Pramadvara inadvertently stepped on a serpent and it bit her. Pramadvara succumbed to the serpent's bite.

When Ruru was lamenting his fiancee's death, he heard a message from the heavens that said he could restore Pramadvara to life, by offering a part of his life span to her. Ruru instantly agreed to this.

The celestial messenger and the Gandharva King who was Pradamvara's father appealed to Yama, the God of death, to give a new lease of life to Pramadvara, by taking away a part of the lifespan of Ruru.

Pramadvara was thus brought back to life and the marriage was performed on the date fixed earlier. Unable to stomach the fact that Pramadvara was bitten by a serpent, Ruru developed a deep sense of antagonism and anger towards the serpent race. Whenever he saw a serpent, he would kill it, using a weapon.

Once, when he was about to kill a serpent belonging to the Dundubha species, the serpent asked him why Ruru should kill him, when he had not caused any harm to Ruru. 

Ruru then explained that since a serpent had bitten his wife, he was determined to kill all the serpents. The serpent said that all serpents were not alike and that the serpents belonging to the Dundubha race were harmless.

Observing that the serpent was gripped by fear, Ruru asked the snake, "You don't appear to be a sepent. Who are you?"

The serpent replied, "Formerly, I was a sage named Sahasrapat. I was transformed into a serpent, due to the curse of a brahmin."

Prompted by Ruru, the serpent narrated his story. 

"I had a friend by the name Khagama. He had developed spiritual powers through practice of severe austerity. But, he was impetuous by nature. 

"One day, when he was doing agnihotra (fire sacrifice), I made the figure ofa serpent using grass blades and threw it on him, just to frighten him. He swooned, out of shock and fear. 

"After regaining consciousness, he cursed me to become a serpent. I told him that I had only played a joke on him just for fun and pleaded with him to pardon me and revoke his curse. 

"He said, 'A curse once given can't be revoked. I can only mitigate its effect. You will be freed from this curse, when Ruru, the son of Pramati appears before you.' And, his words have come true with your appearance before me and I am now relieved of the curse."

Instantly, the serpent was transformed back to his original form of a sage. He thanked Ruru, blessed him and said "A brahmin should be well versed in the Vedas. He has a sacred duty of inspiring all creatures with faith in God. He should be kind, benevolent, truthful and forgiving. He should not take away the life of any creature. Nor should he be harsh towards anyone. These are the injunctions of the Vedas. A kshatriya (one belonging to the warrior sect) should, on the other hand, be stern and should wield the sword."

He then narrated to Ruru the story of the destruction of the serpents in the Sarpa Yaga (a ritual for destroying the snakes), performed by King Janamejaya, a descendant of the Pandavas, to avenge the killing of his father Parikshit by a serpent and how the serpent race was saved from decimation by Sage Astika.

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