Parīkshit’s Death and Janamejaya’s Vow

King Parīkshit, grandson of Arjuna, put a dead serpent round the neck of the silent muni Śāmika. Śāmika’s son Śṛṅgi spoke a śāpa (curse) that Takshaka would kill the king within seven days. This account in the Ādi Parva (Chapters 40–51) is the direct cause of the sarpa-yāga, the serpent yajña that leads to the end of the Āstīka Upākhyāna.

The hunt and the insult

Parīkshit, king of the Kuru line, went hunting in the forests. He followed a wounded deer deep into the forest and lost sight of it. Tired, thirsty and alone, he wandered until he came to the āśrama of the muni Śāmika. Śāmika was a great tapasvī (one who practises tapas) and a man of complete silence. He was in a state of mauna (silence) so deep that no outside event could reach him.

Parīkshit asked for water. Śāmika was deep in meditation and gave no answer. The king asked again, and again there was no answer. Parīkshit was a king used to respect, and he grew angry. He looked round and saw a dead serpent lying nearby. He picked it up on the tip of his bow and put it round Śāmika’s neck as a sign of contempt. Then he left. Śāmika was still in mauna and did not know of the insult (Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Āstīka Parva, Chapters 40–51).

Śṛṅgi’s śāpa

Śāmika’s son Śṛṅgi was a young brāhmaṇa of great tapas and a fiery nature. His disciples told him what the king had done to his father. Śṛṅgi was at once seized by a burning rage. He did a short tapas on the spot and spoke a śāpa: “Takshaka the nāgarāja shall strike this king who insulted my father with a dead serpent, and Parīkshit shall die within seven days.”

When Śāmika came out of his meditation and learned both of the insult and of his son’s śāpa, he was grieved, not for the king but for his son. He said to Śṛṅgi: “The king’s act was thoughtless. It was born of tiredness and anger, not of cruelty planned. A muni should bear such insults with calm. A śāpa on a Kuru king who guards the dharma of the land is not something I would have allowed.” He then sent his disciple Gaurumukha to warn Parīkshit. This was a kindness to the king in spite of the insult (Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Āstīka Parva, Chapters 40–51).

Parīkshit’s answer

Parīkshit received Gaurumukha’s warning with humility and without anger at Śāmika. He saw how serious his own act was and accepted the śāpa as the fruit of his own adharma. He called together his ministers, among them Kṛpācārya, his own guru, and asked what could be done.

The ministers talked over whether the śāpa could be turned aside, and whether spiritual power could defeat what a brāhmaṇa had ordered. They remembered the account of Ruru and Pramadvarā, in which death by snakebite was undone when Ruru gave half of his own life to her. This showed that such fates could sometimes be changed. But in this case no clear way was open.

Parīkshit took the most practical care he could. He had a great tower built on a single pillar, which could be reached only by one ladder that could be drawn up. He moved his home into this tower, with trusted attendants and physicians round him. For the seven days that were left he would not set foot on the ground (Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Āstīka Parva, Chapters 40–51).

Takshaka and Kaśyapa

Takshaka heard of the śāpa and knew that he was meant to carry it out. He set out for Parīkshit’s tower. On the way he met the brāhmaṇa physician Kaśyapa. This was not the Prajāpati Kaśyapa but a man skilled in undoing the effect of venom. Kaśyapa was hurrying to the king and said that he could cure any snakebite with his herbs and mantras.

Takshaka challenged him: “Can you undo what I do?” He struck a great aśvattha tree and burned it up at once. Kaśyapa at once began to say mantras over the burnt remains, and the tree came alive again, putting out leaves and branches in moments.

Takshaka was troubled by this show of Kaśyapa’s skill. He asked: “Why are you going to the king?” Kaśyapa said: “For wealth, the wealth the king would give me for curing him.” Takshaka at once offered Kaśyapa whatever wealth the king would have given him, and more. Kaśyapa thought that a fate ordered by a brāhmaṇa‘s śāpa was perhaps beyond even his skill to undo, and he accepted. He turned back. Takshaka went on toward the tower (Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Āstīka Parva, Chapters 40–51).

The disguise and the death

Takshaka reached the tower on the seventh day. The way in was closely guarded, and he could not go straight in. He made a plan. He sent other nāgas dressed as brāhmaṇa beggars carrying gifts of fruit, flowers and water for the king. He himself went in hidden inside one of the fruits, coiled small.

The disguised nāgas were let in, and the king took the gifts. He took the fruit and began to look at it. Takshaka came out of it, at once grew to his full fearful size and bit the king. Parīkshit was burned up where he sat and became ash on his own throne. The tower itself began to burn (Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Āstīka Parva, Chapters 40–51).

Janamejaya’s vow

Janamejaya, Parīkshit’s son, heard the news of his father’s death. His grief was extreme and his anger had no limit. He called his ministers and priests. The ministers told him the whole story: the hunt, the insult, the śāpa, the tower, the disguise and what Takshaka had done. They told him that Takshaka had not acted from a neutral place. He had worked for this death, had paid Kaśyapa to turn back, and had used trickery to get into the tower.

Janamejaya resolved to perform a sarpa-yāga, a great yajña in which all the serpents of the world would be called by Vedic mantras into a blazing fire until they were destroyed. Takshaka above all would fall. He asked learned brāhmaṇas whether such a yāga could be done and was proper. They told him that the rites existed and could be performed, and he began the preparations at once (Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Āstīka Parva, Chapters 40–51).

Other accounts of Parīkshit’s death

The Devī Bhāgavata and the Bhāgavata Purāṇa also tell of Parīkshit’s death. The Bhāgavata Purāṇa tells that Parīkshit died on the banks of the Gaṅgā, with the ṛshis of all creation round him. He had listened to the Bhāgavata-kathā told by Śuka. In that account his death is calm and his liberation comes at once.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Āstīka Parva, Chapters 40–51
• Bhāgavata Purāṇa (the death of Parīkshit on the banks of the Gaṅgā)
• Devī Bhāgavata (the death of Parīkshit)