The Mahabharata/Book 1: Adi Parva/Section L
Section L.
( Astika Parva continued. )
Sauti continued, "And the ministers said, 'The king of kings then tired with hunger and exertion, having placed the snake upon the shoulder of that Muni, wended back to his capital. The Rishi had a son, born of a cow, of name Sringi. And he was widely known, of great prowess, excessive energy, and very wrathful. And going to his preceptor he was in the habit of worshiphing him. And commanded by him he was returning home, when he heard from a friend of his about the insult to his father by thy parent. And, O tiger among kings, he heard that his father, without having committed any fault, was bearing, motionless like a stake, upon his shoulder a dead snake placed thereon. And, O king, the Rishi, insulted by thy father, was severe in ascetic penances, the foremost of Munis, the controller of passions, pure, and ever engaged in wonderful acts. And his soul was enlightened with ascetic penances, and his organs and their functions were under complete control. And his practices and his speech were both handsome. And he was contented and without avarice. And he was without meanness of any kind and without envy. And he was old and in the observance of the vow of silence. And he was the refuge whom all creatures might seek in distress.
"And such was the Rishi insulted by thy father! And the son of that Rishi in wrath cursed thy father. And though young in years, the powerful one was old in ascetic splendour. And speedily touching water he spake, from anger and burning as it were with energy, these words in allusion to thy father:—'Behold the power of my asceticism! Directed by my words, the snake Takshaka of powerful energy and virulent poison, shall, within seven nights hence, burn with his poison, the wretch that hath placed the dead snake upon my unoffending father!' And having said this, he went to where his father was. And seeing his father he told him of his curse. And that tiger among Rishis thereupon sent to thy father a disciple of his, named Gourmukha, of amiable manners and possessed of every virtue. And having rested awhile (after arrival at court) he told the king everything, saying in the words of his master, 'Thou hast, been cursed, O king, by my son. Takshaka shall burn thee with his poison: therefore, O king, be careful.' And, O Janamejaya, hearing those terrible words, thy father took every precaution against the powerful snake Takshaka.
"'And when the seventh day had arrived, the Brahmana Rishi, Kasyapa, desired to come to the vicinage of the monarch. But the snake Takshaka saw Kasyapa. And the prince of snakes spake unto Kasyapa without loss of time, saying,—Where dost thou go so quickly, and what is the business after which thou goest?—And Kasyapa replied, saying,—O Brahmana, I am going whither king Parikshita, the best of the Kurus, is. He shall to-day be burnt by the poison of the snake Takshaka. I go there quickly in order to cure him, in fact, in order that, protected by me, the snake may not bite him to death.—And Takshaka answered, saying,—Why dost thou seek to revive the king to be bitten by me? I am that Takshaka. O Brahmana, behold the wonderful power of my poison! Thou art incapable of reviving that monarch when bit by me.—And so saying, Takshaka, then and there, bit a lord of the forest (banian tree.) And the banian, as soon as bit by the snake, was converted into ashes. But Kasyapa, O king, revived the banian. And Takshaka thereupon tempted him, saying,—Tell me thy desire. And Kasyapa too, thus addressed, spake again unto Takshaka, saying,—I go there from desire of wealth. And Takshaka, thus addressed, then spake unto the high-souled Kasyapa in these soft words:—O sinless one, receive thou from me more wealth than what thou expectest from that monarch, and go back thy way.—And Kasyapa, the foremost of bipeds, thus addressed by the snake and receiving from Takshaka as much wealth as he desired, wended back his way. "'And on Kasyapa wending back his way, Takshaka, approaching in disguise, burnt with the fire of his poison thy virtuous father, that first of kings, then staying in his mansion with all precautions. And after that, thou hast, O tiger among men, been installed (on the throne.) And, O best of monarchs, we have thus told thee all that we have seen and heard, cruel though the account be. And hearing all about the discomfiture of the monarch thy father, and of the insult to the Rishi Utanka, appoint thou that which should follow.'"
Sauti continued, "And king Janamejaya, that punisher of enemies, then spake unto all his ministers. And he said, 'Whence have ye learned all that happened unto that banian reduced to ashes by Takshaka, wonderful as it is, which was subsequently revived by Kasyapa? Assuredly, my father could not have died, for the poison could have been neutralised by Kasyapa with his mantras. The worst of snakes, of sinful soul, thought within his mind that if Kasyapa would revive the king bit by him, he, Takshaka, would be an object of ridicule in the world owing to the neutralisation of his poison. Assuredly, having thought so, he pacified the Brahmana. I have devised a way, however, of inflicting punishment upon him. I like to know, however, how have ye seen or heard what happened in the deep solitude of the forest,—the words of Takshaka and the speeches of Kasyapa. Having known it, I shall devise the means of exterminating the snake race.'
"And the ministers said, 'Hear, O monarch, of him who told us before of that meeting between the foremost of Brahmanas and the prince of snakes in the woods. A certain person, O monarch, had climbed on that tree containing some dry branches with the object of breaking them for sacrificial fuel. He was not perceived by both of the snake and the Brahmana. And, O king, that man was reduced to ashes along with the tree itself. And, O king of kings, he was revived with the tree by the power of the Brahmana. That man—a Brahmana's menial—having come to us represented fully everything as if happened between Takshaka and the Brahmana. Thus have we told thee, O king, all that we have seen and heard. And having heard it, O tiger among kings, appoint that which should follow.'"
Sauti continued, "And king Janamejaya, having listened to the words of his ministers, afflicted with grief, began to weep. And the monarch began to squeeze his hands. And the lotus-eyed king began to exhale long and hot sighs, and shed tears with his two eyes, and shrieked aloud. And possessed with grief and sorrow, and shedding copious tears, and touching water according to the form, the monarch spake. And reflecting for a moment, as if settling something in his mind, the angry monarch, addressing all his ministers, said these words:—
'I have heard your account of my father's ascension to heaven. Now know ye what my fixed resolve is. I conceive, no time must be lost in avenging this injury upon the wretch Takshaka that hath slain my father. He hath burnt my father making Sringi only a secondary cause. From malignity alone he made Kasyapa return. If that Brahmana had arrived, my father assuredly would have lived. What would he have lost if the king had revived by the grace of Kasyapa and the precautionary measures of his ministers? From ignorance of the effects of my wrath, he prevented Kasyapa—that excellent of Brahmanas and whom he could not defeat, from coming to my father with the desire of reviving him. The act of aggression is great of the wretch Takshaka who gave wealth unto that Brahmana in order that he might not revive the king. I must now avenge on my father's enemy to please myself, the Rishi Utanka, and ye all.'"
And so ends the fiftieth Section in the Astika of the Adi Parva.