27. Vasuki Seeks Astika's Help to Save the Serpents

Takshaka, the prince of serpents, whose action gave rise to the sacrifice, on hearing about the sacrifice, went to Indra and sought his protection, admitting his own sin of biting King Parikshit to death. Indra gave him solace and granted him refuge in his abode.

Vasuki was grieved over many serpents getting killed and his own family getting reduced to only a few. 

He went to his sister Jaratkaru and apprised her of the situation. Saying that his own turn to be drawn into the sacrificial fire might come that day, he pointed out that the time had come to fulfill the purpose for which she was married to Jaratkaru. 

Reminding her of Brahma’s prophecy that her son Astika would save the snakes from extinction, Vasuki asked her to persuade Astika to act immediately to put an end to the sacrifice.

Jaratkaru called her son Astika and told him "Oh, son, the time has come for the accomplishment of that object for which I was married to your father by my brother. Therefore, do what should be done.”

"Astika asked, 'What was the purpose for which you were bestowed on my father by my uncle? Tell me about it.”

Jaratkaru told him the entire story starting from the curse of Kadru on her sons.

After hearing the story, Astika  promised his mother and uncle that he would act immediately.

After allaying the fears of  his uncle Vasuki, Astika rushed to the site of Janamejaya's sacrifice. He was initially denied admission by the gatekeepers but he managed to enter the site after gratifying them.

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26. Sarpa Yaga - The Sacrifice that Pulled the Serpents to Death!

The Serpent-Sacrifice commenced following the due procedure. 

Many eminent sages like Chandabhargava (belonging to the Chyavana lineage), Kautsa, Jamini, the Sarngarva and Pingala duo, Vyasa, his son Sukha and Vyasa’s disciples, Uddalaka, Pramataka, Swetaketu, Pingala, Asita, Devala, Narada, Parvata, Atreya, Kundajathara, Kalaghata, Vatsya, Srutasravas, Kohala Devasarman, Maudgalya, Samasaurava) participated in the sacrifice playing various roles.

The priests, well-versed in the nuances of the rituals were clad in black. Their eyes, in contrast, were red from contact with the smoke from the sacrificial fire. 

As they poured ghee into the sacrificial fire raised and contained in the huge homa kundas (trough like structures for containing the sacrificial fire) chanting the appropriate mantras, the serpents were lifted up from where they were, carried to the site of the sacrifice and fed to the fire.

The serpents came in large numbers, many of them twining with others and uttering loud cries out of fear, fell into the fire and were quickly burnt into ashes. 

The serpents were of different colors, sizes and breed. Thousands of snakes including some giant ones of the sizes of a horse and an elephant were killed. The atmosphere was filled with a pungent and unpleasant stench due to the incessant burning of the serpents.

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25. Janamejaya Plans the Serpent Sacrifice

Parikshit having been bitten to death by Thaklshaka, his councilors had his last rites performed and crowned his eldest son Janamejaya the king. 

Janamejaya was only a boy when he was crowned the king. After some time his ministers, intending to provide a strong support to the young monarch, approached Suvarnavarman, the King of Kasi and asked him to give his daughter Vapushtama in marriage to Janamejaya. 

The king accepted the proposal and got his daughter Vapushtama married to Janamejaya. After the marriage, Janamejaya travelled to many places along with his wife, enjoying life in the company of his wife.

After some time, Janamejaya asked his ministers about his father and his achievements. The ministers told him what a great virtuous and compassionate ruler Parikshit was. Then he asked them about the cause of his father’s death. They told him all the details including Thakshaka’s persuading Kasyapa to go back by giving him the wealth he wanted to get from the king.

Janamejaya asked them how they came to know of what transpired between Thakshaka and Kasyapa.They said that this was revealed by a man who was sitting on a dry branch of a banyan tree with the intention of cutting some wood to be used as a sacrificial fuel. He had overheard their conversation. He was also burnt to ashes when the tree was bitten by Thakshaka but was subsequently revived when Kasyapa brought the tree back to life.

On learning that his father was bitten by the serpent Thakshka using deception, Janamejaya decided to avenge the death of his father. His anger was directed at Thakshaka for having prevented Kasyapa from coming to the palace and bringing the king back to life after he was bitten by Thakshaka. He felt that Thakshaka should have done this because he would have become an object of ridicule if the king was brought back to life by Kasyapa after he was bitten by Thakshaka.

Janamejaya was also prodded by Sage Utanka to avenge his father’s death. He called the chief priest of his country and expressed his intention to burn Thakshaka and other snakes who had burnt his father through his poison. 

The priests told him that there was a sacrificial ritual called Sarpa Yaga (Serpent Sacrifice) through which the snakes can be offered to Agni, the God of Fire. The king ordered that arrangements be made to perform such a sacrifice by engaging the services of Brahmins well versed in the rites.

When the platform for the sacrifice was being built, a construction expert, by examining the soil on which the platform was being constructed, said that the type of soil and the time at which the measurement was made indicated that the sacrifice won’t be completed.

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24. The Story of Parikshit

There was a king by name Parikshit. He was the son of Abhimanyu and the grandson of Arjuna. 

After the Mahabharata war, Drona’s son Aswathama tried to decimate the entire Pandava race to avenge the killing of the Kauravas by the Pandavas in the Kurukshetra war using the most powerful Narayana Astra. Parikshit who was in the womb of Uthara, Abhimanyu’s wife, was protected by Krishna using his Sudarsana Chakra.

Parikshit was a great warrior. He was also fond of hunting. Once while hunting in a forest, he pierced a deer with his arrow. The wounded deer ran away. 

Parikshit went in search of the deer. He walked a long distance in the forest but could not find the deer. Fatigued and thirsty, he came across 

Sage Samika was seated in a cow-pen drinking the froth oozing out of the mouths of calves after they had fed themselves of the cows.

Parikshit asked the sage, “Oh saint, I am King Parikshit, son of Abhimanyu. A deer pierced by me has been lost. Did you see it?'

Since the sage was observing a vow of silence, he didn’t reply. Angered by the sage’s silence, Parikshit picked up a dead snake with the end of his bow and placed it on the sage’s shoulder.  Even then, the sage didn’t react and suffered the insult silently.

Finding that the sage didn’t protest at the treatment meted out to him, Parikshit felt sorry for his act and returned to his place quietly. 

Sage Samika had a son by name Sringin who had gone out. He had great energy and observed severe austerities. He was severe in his vows, very wrathful, and difficult to be appeased. 

One of his friends told him that King Parikshit had insulted his father by placing a dead snake on his shoulder.

Sringin became very angry on hearing this and cursed Parikshit to be bitten by Thakshaka, the King of snakes within seven days. After throwing this curse, Sringin went to his father and found him sitting with the dead snake on his shoulder. He told his father that he had cursed Parikshit.

The sage chided his son saying, “I am not happy about what you have done. Ascetics should observe restraint. We live in the country ruled by King Parikshit and we are protected by him. If he didn’t protect us, we wouldn’t be able to perform the penances peacefully.

"Parikshit was tired and thirsty when he came here. He was not aware of my vow of silence and had acted in haste. We should have forgiven him.. The king protects the sacrificial rites and these rites please the gods who give us rains which help the plants and trees that provide food to us grow. A country without a king will suffer. You have acted in haste and you have acted with immaturity.”

Sirgin replied, “Whether what I have done is right or not, the words I have uttered will come true and a curse can never be revoked.”

Sage Samika sent one of his disciples named Gurumukha to King Parikshit for apprising the king of the curse.  

Gurumukha went to the palace, met the king and apprised him of the developments. 

Parikshit grieved not so much about the curse as about the fact that he had insulted the great sage without being aware of his vow of silence.

Parikshit then consulted his ministers and as per their advice had a mansion erected on a solitary column. The mansion was closely protected by guards and no one could enter the palace unseen. Brahmins sitting in the mansion were engaged in chanting mantras continuously.

On the seventh day, a Brahmin named Kasyapa decided to go to the palace with the intention of bringing the king back to life in case he was bitten by Thakshaka, the snake, thereby earning the goodwill of the king. 

On the way he was met by Thakshka in the guise of a Brahmin. After ascertaining the intention of Kasyapa, Thakshaka revealed his identity and told him that Kasyapa couldn’t bring the king back to life after he was bitten by him. But Kasyapa claimed that he had the power to revive the king, after he was bitten by the snake.

Thakshka said that he would bite a banyan tree that was on the side of the road and challenged Kasyapa to bring it back to life. Kasyapa accepted the challenge. 

Thakshaka bit the banyan tree. The poison released by the snake blazed like a fire and burnt the tree to ashes. But Kasyapa brought back the tree to life by first reviving its sprout, then making two leaves appear, then creating the stem, then the branches and so on.

Impressed by Kasyapa’s feat, Thakshaka asked Kasyapa why he wanted to save the king. When Kasyapa said that he wanted to get huge wealth from the king, Thakshaka offered to give him more wealth than the king would give. 

Tempted by this offer, Kasyapa sat in meditation and through his spiritual powers learnt that the king’s life span was coming to an end. So he accepted the large quantity of gold given by Thakshaka and went away.

Thakshaka then devised a deception to enter the mansion. He made some snakes take the form of ascetics and enter the palace with gifts of fruits for the king. 

Thakshaka took the form of a small insect and penetrated one of the fruits. The snakes, as per the plan, disguised themselves as ascetics and entered the mansion and met the king. 

The unsuspecting king accepted the gifts offered to him. After the ‘ascetics’ had left, King Parikshit, along with his ministers began to eat the fruits. 

As fate would have it, the fruit in which Thakshaka was hiding came to be eaten by the king. Parikshit  observed a small insect coming out of the fruit and took it in his hand.

Parikshit  told his ministers, “The sun is about to set. The deadline for the curse is about to end. Let this insect become Thakshaka and bite me so that my sin will be expiated by the words of the sage coming true.”  

This was seconded by all the wise men assembled there.

King Parkikshit placed the insect on his neck. Even as the King was smiling, Thakshaka, assuming his real form, coiled around the king's neck and bit him causing him to die instantly. The entire mansion blazed with the fire of Thakshaka’s poison, making all  the ministers flee the scene. 

They saw Thakshaka coursing through the sky.

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23. The Serpents Discover a Way Out

Vasuki, another son of Kadru pondering over the curse of his mother, reflected on how to overcome the curse. 

He held a consultation with all his brothers. Since, as per their mother’s curse, the snakes would be destroyed during King Janamejaya’s sacrifice, they should find a way to prevent the sacrifice itself, he said.

Several suggestions were offered.

One snake said that one of them should approach Janamejaya in the guise of a learned Brahmin and advise him against performing the sacrifice.

Another said that they should all become the king's favourite counsellors. Since  he would seek their advice on any issue, they could dissuade him from performing the sacrifice.

Another snake said that one of them could bite the priest conducting the sacrifice, thereby aborting the event.

Yet another snake said that they could together become clouds and extinguish the sacrificial fire by causing heavy downpours.

Another said that they should bite everyone around and spread terror.

One more suggestion was to steal the vessel of Soma juice and thereby disturb the rite.

Another suggestion was that they should bite King Janamejaya himself and preempt the event.

Vasuki dismissed all these suggestions and said that only the grace of their father Kasyapa could save them.

A snake by name Elapatra began to address them:

“That sacrifice is not one that can be prevented. Nor can king Janamejaya of the Pandava race be stopped in his tracks. Our fear is rooted in fate. Therefore, fate alone must be our refuge.“

“When that  curse was uttered by our mother, I was lying on her lap. From that place, I heard the words some gods spoke to Brahma. 

"The gods said, 'Oh Brahma, who but the cruel Kadru could curse her own children like this? You have also endorsed her curse by saying 'Thadhastu (So be it).' We wish to know why you didn’t prevent her from throwing this curse.' 

"Brahma replied, 'The snakes have proliferated. They are cruel, terrible in form and highly poisonous. I did not prevent Kadru from uttering the curse because I wanted those poisonous serpents that are sinful and and have a habit of biting others for no reason to be destroyed, but not those that are harmless and virtuous. 

"And when the hour comes, the snakes may escape this dreadful calamity. There shall be born in the race of the Yayavaras a great sage by name Jaratkaru. That Jaratkaru shall have a son by name Astika. He will put a stop to that sacrifice. And those snakes that are virtuous shall escape from death.’"


“The gods asked Brahma through whom would Jaratkaru beget that illustrious son. Brahma said ‘He will beget a son possessed of great energy on a wife of the same name as his. Vasuki, the king of the snakes, has a sister by name Jaratkaru. Astika will be born of her. He will liberate the snakes.’ ”

Elapatra advised Vasuki to give his sister Jaratkaru in marriage to Sage Jaratkaru.

Hearing Elapatra’s words, the serpents were delighted. From that time, Vasuki took great care in bringing up his sister Jaratkaru.

Soon after this, the gods and the demons churned the ocean.  And Vasuki was used as the churning cord. 

After the event was over, Vasuki went to Brahma along with the gods. The gods told Brahma that Vasuki had been living in fear of his mother’s curse and requested Brahma to assuage his fears considering the help he had rendered in the churning of the ocean.

Brahma advised Vasuki to follow the advice of Elapatra. 

He added, “Only the wicked snakes will be destroyed. The virtuous ones will be saved. Sage Jaratkaru is engaged in ascetic penances. Vasuki can offer his sister in marriage to Jaratkaru at the proper time.”

Vasuki asked the serpents to keep a watch on Sage Jaratkaru and to inform him when Jaratkaru would ask for a wife.

“The very survival of our race depends upon it,” Vauki told the serpents.

The serpents kept their watch on Jaratkaru but for a long time to come, Jaratkaru was engaged in penance and he didn’t think of getting married.

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22. Sesha, the Virtuous Snake

We have seen earlier how the snakes were cursed by their mother Kadru. Sesha was the eldest of her sons. Vasuki, Airavata, Takshaka, Karkotaka, Dhananjaya, Kalakeya and others ere born after him.

With a view to overcoming the effects of the curse, Sesha left his mother and  went to the forest of Pushkara located at the foot of the Himalaya. There he practiced hard penances, living upon air and rigidly observing vows. 

Pleased by his penance, Brahma appeared before Sesha and asked him what he wanted. 

Sesha said, “My brothers are all of wicked hearts. They are jealous of one another. They have been unkind to Vinata and her illustrious son Garuda. I don’t like to live in their company. So I would like to cast off this body of mine so that I may avoid companionship with them, even in another state of life. Please bless me that my heart always delight in virtue and in blessed ascetic penances.”

Brahma said, "O Sesha, I am exceedingly gratified with your self-denial and love of peace. The Earth is unsteady with her mountains and forests, her seas and towns and retreats. Hold the earth on your head so that she may be steady.”

Sesha said, “I will hold the Earth steady as per your command. Please place her on my head."

Brahma said, "O best of snakes, go underneath the Earth. She will herself give you a crevice to pass through. By holding the Earth, you will be doing something that will be prized by me very greatly."

As instructed by Brahma, Sesha, entering a hole, passed to the other side of the Earth, and supported the earth on his head.

Pleased by Sesha’s act, Brahma said, “You are are the embodiment of Dharma (Virtues), by virtue of your supporting this huge earth with everything contained in it, a feat only Indra and I are capable of.”

Sesha who came to be called Ananta, meaning one of unlimited powers, lives underneath the Earth, supporting the world, at the command of Brahma. 

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21. Garuda Frees His Mother from Slavery

Garuda told Indra, "Let there be friendship between you and me, as per your wish. You have asked me to spell out the limit of my strength. As you know, good people do not speak highly of their own strength or of their other merits. 

"Since you have made me your friend and asked me the question, I have to give you an answer. I can bear, on a single feather of mine, this Earth, with her mountains and forests and with the waters of the ocean, and with you also stationed thereon. 

"I can bear, without fatigue, all the worlds put together, with their mobile and immobile objects."

Hearing this, Indra said, "Please accept my friendship. If you don’t need Amrita, return it to me. People to whom you intend to give this will always be inimical to us."

Garuda said, "I am taking this Amrita for a purpose. I shall not let anyone drink Amrita. After I put it down, you can take it back immediately.”

Pleased by this assurance from Garuda, Indra offered to grant Garuda any boon that he asked for. 

Recollecting the slavery imposed on his mother by the deception carried out by the snakes, Garuda asked for the boon that the mighty snakes be his food. Indra granted his wish and also got it ratified by Vishnu, the God of gods.

Garuda then went to the snakes carrying the pot of Amrita and told them, "I will place the pot of Amrita on this Kusa grass. You can drink it, after you perform your ablutions and religious rites. Please release my mother from slavery, as promised by you."

The snakes released Vinata from slavery and then went to perform their ablutions. 

Meanwhile, Indra took the form of a bird and flew away with the pot of Amrita. When the serpents returned after performing their ablutions, they found that the pot of Amrita had been taken away. 

Expecting that some Amrita might have spilled on the spot where the pot of Amrita was kept, the serpents licked the Kusa grass. The sharp blades of the grass cut the tongues of the snakes and their tongues became split.

The Kusa grass became sacred, because of its coming into contact with the pot of Amrita.

Garuda, delighted by his mother having been freed from slavery due to his efforts, went to the woods along with his mother and enjoyed himself. 

Garuda was revered by all birds.

He gratified his mother by devouring the snakes.

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