Parīkṣit

Parīkṣit was the grandson of Arjuna and the son of Abhimanyu and Uttarā. He was born after Abhimanyu had died in the Kurukṣetra war. While he was in his mother’s womb, Aśvatthāmā’s brahmāstra (a weapon of Brahmā) was loosed at him, and Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa saved him. He was the only heir left to carry on the Pāṇḍava and Kuru lines.

He was called Viṣṇurāta (“given by Viṣṇu”) because of this. The Bhāgavatam says he was called Parīkṣit (“the examiner”) because he looked closely at every person he saw, searching for the divine form he had seen in the womb. He became a great emperor and a devotee of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa. He performed three aśvamedha yajñas (horse yajñas). During a digvijaya (conquest of the quarters) he met Kali-Puruṣa, overcame him and allowed him to live under conditions.

After he insulted the Maharṣi Śamīka without meaning to, he came under a śāpa (a curse): he would die of a snakebite in seven days. He took it as the grace of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa. He gave up his kingdom and sat in prāyopaveśa (a fast unto death) on the bank of the Gaṅgā. Śuka Maharṣi told him the whole Bhāgavatam in those seven days. This is the central event of that scripture.

Sauptika Parva: Kṛṣṇa’s vow and the name

The Sauptika Parva of the Mahābhārata (Chapter 16) gives the first account of Parīkṣit’s protection and name. Aśvatthāmā had turned the Brahmāśiras weapon toward Uttarā’s womb and could not call it back. Kṛṣṇa then acted himself. He spoke before Vyāsa and the gathered Pāṇḍavas:

The child in Uttarā’s womb will be born. He will die and live again, for I will bring him back to life with my own tapas-vīrya and satya-vīrya (the strength of my tapas and of my truth). A vow was already spoken at Upaplavya. A brāhmaṇa vowed in my presence that when this line was near its end, a son of the Pāṇḍava line would be born to Virāṭa’s daughter. Uttarā will give birth to a boy. Because he was “tested” (parīkṣita, examined) even in the womb, his name will be Parīkṣit. He will reign for sixty years as a dharmarāja of the Kuru line.

This is the Mahābhārata’s own word on his birth, the meaning of his name and the length of his reign. In this account the name Parīkṣit means one who was tested in the womb itself, under the fire of the Brahmāśiras. Kṛṣṇa’s promise could not be undone. Not even the greatest weapon could destroy the line while Kṛṣṇa’s satya-vīrya stood behind it. (Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapter 16)

Aśvamedhika Parva: the stillbirth and the satya-kriyā

The Aśvamedhika Parva (also called the Anugītā Parva) gives its own full account of Parīkṣit’s birth, in Chapters 60 to 70. Kṛṣṇa told his father Vāsudeva at Dvārakā about the war (Chapter 60). The household learned of Abhimanyu’s death (Chapter 61). Vyāsa foretold a great-grandson for Kuntī and Uttarā (Chapter 62).

The child was born lifeless, struck by Aśvatthāmā’s weapon even in the womb. This happened as Vāsudeva’s household and the Pāṇḍavas, returning with Marutta’s treasure, arrived together (Chapter 66). Kuntī, Subhadrā and Uttarā lamented (Chapters 66 to 68). Then Kṛṣṇa made a satya-kriyā, an act of truth: a chain of oaths calling on his own unbroken keeping of satya (truth) and dharma. With it he brought the infant back to life before the whole assembly (Chapter 69).

Kṛṣṇa himself then named the child. He was born at the hour of the line’s parikṣaya (near-destruction), so his name would be Parīkṣit (Chapter 70). (Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapters 60–70)

Viṣṇu Purāṇa account

The Viṣṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Chaturdhāmsa, Chapter 20, records Parīkṣit in the Pūru line of kings. It says that he was the son of Abhimanyu and that Kṛṣṇa saved him from Aśvatthāmā’s brahmāstra while he was still in the womb.

The same chapter tells the story of Devāpi and Śantanu. Śantanu became king while his elder brother Devāpi was alive. This broke the rule against a younger brother taking the throne before the elder, who is called parivettā when the younger brother marries first. A twelve-year drought struck the kingdom. It ended when Devāpi, the elder brother, who had become an ascetic in the forest, performed a great yajña as the brahmarṣi who had been set aside. His ritual action restored the natural order. This episode comes before the account of Bhīṣma. (Viṣṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Chaturdhāmsa, Chapter 20)

Birth and naming in the Bhāgavatam

Aśvatthāmā, after the Kurukṣetra war, loosed a brahmāstra into Uttarā’s womb to destroy the last of the Pāṇḍava line. Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa entered the womb and shielded the child with his Sudarśana cakra (discus). The child was born in spite of the brahmāstra, which nothing else could have turned back. This was due only to the grace of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa.

The birth came at a good time, with many fortunate signs in the sky. Dharmarāja performed all the birth rites with great joy and gave many gifts to the brāhmaṇas. The brāhmaṇa astrologers who had gathered said the child would be:

• a great devotee named Viṣṇurāta (given by Viṣṇu)
• a truth-teller like Rāma
• a protector like Śibi
• a giver like Bharata
• a warrior like both Arjunas
• unbeatable like the ocean
• patient like the earth
• equal to Brahmā in evenness of mind
• equal to Bhagavān Śiva in grace
• equal to Bhagavān Viṣṇu in protecting others

He was named Parīkṣit, “the examiner”. Even as a baby he looked at every person who came near him. He seemed to be searching for the shining figure he had seen guarding him in the womb. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 1st Skanda, Chapter 12)

Reign

Parīkṣit was crowned emperor at Hastināpura after the Pāṇḍavas left on their mahāprasthāna (great departure). He ruled well and followed the advice of brāhmaṇas. He had Kṛpācārya, the guru of Arjuna, as his royal preceptor. He performed three aśvamedha yajñas. At those yajñas the devas themselves came to receive their shares. This marked the great purity and power of the yajña.

During his digvijaya he passed through many lands, among them Bhadrāśva, Ketumāla, Bhārata, Uttara-Kuru and Kimpuruṣa. He received tribute from them. In his own lands he heard people telling of the glory of his Pāṇḍava forefathers and of the friendship between the Pāṇḍavas and Kṛṣṇa. He would stop to listen with tears of devotion and give gifts.

He took Uttara’s daughter Irāvatī as his queen. He had four sons, among them Janamejaya. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 1st Skanda, Chapters 16–17)

The meeting with Kali

On his digvijaya, Parīkṣit saw Kali-Puruṣa, dressed as a king, beating a bull and a weeping cow with a staff. The bull was Dharma, standing on one leg. The cow was the Earth, Bhūmādevī. Parīkṣit stopped at once and questioned the two. Dharma, in the form of the bull, spoke of the doubt about who brings suffering. He said it is credited to Īśvara, to karma (action and its result), to svabhāva (one’s own nature) or to the self. Bhūmādevī wept because Kṛṣṇa’s divine presence had gone from the earth. She said: “The saubhāgya (good fortune) given to me by his footprints has now left.”

Parīkṣit knew him to be Kali and raised his sword to kill him. Kali shook with fear and fell at the king’s feet. Parīkṣit followed the dharma of a king who gives shelter to those who surrender, and he spared Kali. But he banished him to five abodes: gambling, alcohol, illicit association with women, slaughter of animals, and gold. In these abide, in that order, falsehood, drunkenness, passion, cruelty and enmity.

Parīkṣit is called the conqueror of Kali. The Bhāgavatam says that while Parīkṣit ruled, Kali’s influence could not spread, although Kali was present on earth. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 1st Skanda, Chapters 16–17)

The insult to Śamīka and the śāpa

Once Parīkṣit went hunting in the forest. He was tired, thirsty and hungry. He came to the āśrama of Śamīka Maharṣi, who was in deep samādhi (absorbed meditation). The ṛṣi gave no reply. He gave no welcome, no water and no sign that he knew the king was there. In a moment of weakness, which was not like him, Parīkṣit grew angry. He took it as deliberate disrespect. He lifted a dead snake on the tip of his bow and put it around the silent ṛṣi’s neck.

Śamīka’s son Śṛṅgi heard of this. He laid a śāpa on Parīkṣit: the serpent-king Takṣaka would bite and kill him within seven days. A disciple of Śamīka went to Hastināpura and told the king.

Parīkṣit heard the śāpa without grief and did not try to flee. He thought: “This is the blessing of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa himself. This śāpa will free me from my hold on this body and this kingdom. I have been clinging to them without knowing it, while Kali’s influence grew around me.” He saw this trouble as the kind that is in truth grace in disguise. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 1st Skanda, Chapter 18)

Prāyopaveśa and the Bhāgavatam

Parīkṣit crowned his son Janamejaya. He gave up all his possessions and the signs of kingship and went to the Gaṅgā. He sat on a seat of darbha grass facing north. He resolved to neither eat nor drink until death. The greatest ṛṣis of all three kinds, brahmarṣis, rājarṣis and devarṣis, gathered there. Among them were Atri, Vasiṣṭha, Viśvāmitra, Parāśara, Bharadvāja, Gautama, Nārada and Vyāsa himself.

Śuka Maharṣi came into this gathering. His arrival made all the ṛṣis stand in honour. Parīkṣit received him with deep reverence and asked the one question that holds all questions: “What should a dying person do?”

Over the next seven days Śuka told the whole Bhāgavatam. Parīkṣit listened with full attention. At the end of the seventh day Takṣaka bit him, and Parīkṣit reached mokṣa (liberation). The devas showered flowers from the sky. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 1st Skanda, Chapter 19)

Mokṣa on the Gaṅgā: brahma-laya

At the end of the seven-day recital of the Bhāgavatam, Śuka Maharṣi gave Parīkṣit his last teaching on the ātmā (the self). He said: “Give up the thought that you are dying. This belief comes from mistaking the body for the ātmā. You were never born. You will not perish. Only the body was born. Only the body will end.”

Śuka used the full method of Vedānta, viveka (discernment). The ātmā shines by itself. Space in a pot (ghaṭa-ākāśa) was never really apart from the great space (mahā-ākāśa). In the same way the jīva (the living being) was never really apart from Parabrahman. His last instruction was: “Meditate: ‘I am Parabrahman, the ground of all.’ Draw yourself into Paramātmā, free of every upādhi (limiting tie).” (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 12th Skanda, Chapter 5)

Parīkṣit heard these words with firm certainty and peace. He bowed to Śuka and said: “You have shown me the Parabrahman in which there is no fear and no sorrow. I am not afraid of Takṣaka or of any cause of death. Let me go. I let go of speech. I let go of the manas (mind) full of desire. I place this prāṇa (breath of life) in Bhagavān Viṣṇu, who cannot be known by any ordinary means of knowing.” He asked Śuka’s leave to leave the body. Śuka was satisfied. He rose and went away with the sannyāsins (renunciants) who had gathered. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 12th Skanda, Chapter 5)

Parīkṣit Mahārāja, a great yogi, then entered samādhi. He sat uttaramukha (facing north) on darbha grass with its tips pointing east, on the bank of the Gaṅgā. He drew his own awareness into Parabrahman. This is brahma-laya, merging in the Supreme. The whole Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, all twelve skandas of the history of creation, theology, bhakti (devotion), yoga and jñāna (knowledge), had done its work. His understanding had been changed by jñāna, his heart by bhakti and his will by viveka. His body had been made ready by prāyopaveśa. The teaching was complete. What had been called Parīkṣit merged into the eternal. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 12th Skanda, Chapter 6)

Soon after, Takṣaka came. First he had paid the healer Kaśyapa to turn back. He came disguised as a brāhmaṇa and bit the king’s body. The fire of the poison turned the body to ash at once, before the whole gathering. But the jīva had already left. Takṣaka’s fire burned only what had already been given up. The earth, the sky and all directions rang with weeping. Heavenly drums sounded. Gandharvas and apsarasas sang. The devas showered flowers. When Parīkṣit’s son Janamejaya learned of it, he later held the great sarpa-yāga (snake yajña) in his grief and just anger. That too became the occasion for Bṛhaspati’s teaching on karma. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 12th Skanda, Chapter 6)

Devī Bhāgavata account: the death of Parīkṣit

The Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa gives details of how Takṣaka carried out the killing that the Bhāgavatam does not give.

The seven days passed, and the sarpa-yāga had not yet been arranged. Takṣaka heard of the śāpa and set out from his home disguised as an old brāhmaṇa. On the road he met the skilled Kaśyapa, a master of mantras and of the cure for poison. Kaśyapa was on his way to save Parīkṣit and to win wealth. Takṣaka showed who he was and challenged Kaśyapa. With his venom he burned a nearby fig tree to ash. Kaśyapa made the tree whole again by the power of his mantra, pouring consecrated water on the ash. Takṣaka was impressed. He offered Kaśyapa all the wealth he wanted if he would turn back. Kaśyapa knew by his inner knowledge that the king was fated to die in any case. He thought his wish for wealth was unworthy. He also thought his further effort might bring trouble on Takṣaka. He took the gold and went home. (Dévī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skanda 2, Chapter 10)

Takṣaka then went to Hastināpura. Parīkṣit had shut himself in a tower of seven floors, guarded by soldiers, weapons, mantra-experts and healers. He had given orders that no one should enter. Takṣaka used a cunning plan. He hid his nāga companions inside the bodies of ascetics and sent them ahead with fruit, roots and flowers as gifts for the king. The guards saw brāhmaṇa ascetics coming with fortunate offerings and let the gifts pass. Takṣaka himself hid in one of the fruits, in the form of a tiny insect, copper-coloured with black eyes (kīṭaka). (Dévī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skanda 2, Chapter 10)

The fruits were brought to Parīkṣit. He shared them among his ministers and companions and took one himself. When he split it open, he found the small dark insect. He knew the hour had come. The sun was about to set, and the seventh day was almost done. Parīkṣit took it with perfect calm. He said to his ministers: “The sun is now setting. There is nothing more to fear from Takṣaka’s venom. Let me accept the ṛṣi’s śāpa. Let this creature bite me.” He put the insect on his own neck. The moment the sun touched the horizon, the insect turned into the dreadful Takṣaka in his full serpent form. He coiled around the king’s neck and bit him. The fire of his venom blazed up at once and burned Parīkṣit entirely. The king fell like a tree cut at the root. His body was turned to ash. (Dévī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skanda 2, Chapter 10)

After the mahāprasthāna: the Skanda Purāṇa account

The Bhāgavata Purāṇa Māhātmya of the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa adds an episode to the life of Parīkṣit. It is set after Yudhiṣṭhira’s mahāprasthāna and comes before the events of the first Skanda of the Bhāgavatam, the śāpa and the prāyopaveśa.

Yudhiṣṭhira crowned Vajranābha at Mathurā and Parīkṣit at Hastināpura. Parīkṣit, who is called Viṣṇurāta in the Skanda text, went to Mathurā to see Vajranābha, the great-grandson of Kṛṣṇa and son of Aniruddha. The two kings were bound by deep affection, which came from their shared tie to Kṛṣṇa. Parīkṣit told Vajranābha: “I can never repay your family for what they did for ours. Leave all worry about treasury, army and enemies to me. Only serve the mothers well.”

Vajranābha was troubled by the empty countryside of Vraja. Parīkṣit called Śāṇḍilya, the priest of Nanda, to explain the matter. He also brought thousands of guild leaders (śreṇi-mukhyas) from Indraprastha to Mathurā to help settle the land again. He knew from the texts that the brāhmaṇas of Mathurā had been Rāma’s monkeys in a former birth. He gave them special honour for this.

Uddhava came to the Kusumasaras festival near Govardhana. Parīkṣit was among those who received him. Uddhava embraced him warmly and said: “O king, you are full of devotion to Kṛṣṇa alone. You are always absorbed in the festival of his glory. You are truly blessed. The strength of your limbs was given to you by Kṛṣṇa himself.”

Uddhava told Parīkṣit of his own special place: “The most important person named in the scripture of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa is you yourself.” He foretold that Śuka Maharṣi would tell the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam to Parīkṣit, and that afterwards Parīkṣit would reach the eternal abode of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, the master of Vraja. It would be through Parīkṣit’s hearing of the Bhāgavatam that the scripture would begin to spread on earth.

Uddhava gave Parīkṣit a task: to go on a digvijaya to hold back and subdue Kali. Otherwise Kali would put great obstacles in the way of spreading the Bhāgavatam. Parīkṣit agreed, walked around Uddhava in respect and left. This digvijaya to restrain Kali is separate from the digvijaya of the Bhāgavatam’s first Skanda, in which he met Kali-Puruṣa, and it came before it. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaiṣṇava Khaṇḍa, Bhāgavata Purāṇa Māhātmya, Chapters 1–3)

Ādi Parva account: the reign and death

The Āstīka Parva of the Mahābhārata’s Ādi Parva (Chapters 40–51) tells of Parīkṣit’s death. In it, Parīkṣit went hunting and chased a deer. He lost his party and reached the āśrama of Śamīka Maharṣi, tired and thirsty. The ṛṣi was in deep mauna (silence). The king asked for water and got no answer. In irritation he put a dead snake around the ṛṣi’s neck and left. Śṛṅgi, Śamīka’s son, laid a śāpa on the king: he would die of Takṣaka’s bite within seven days. Śamīka sent his disciple Gaurumukha to warn the king.

Parīkṣit called his ministers together and asked how he might live. They recalled the story of Ruru and Pramadvarā, in which death by snakebite was undone. They took it as a sign that great spiritual power can sometimes overcome fate. Parīkṣit took careful steps. He had a tower built on a single pillar, reached only by a ladder that could be pulled up, and surrounded it with guards and physicians. In spite of all this, Takṣaka entered hidden inside a fruit offered by nāgas in disguise. He came out of it and burned the king. (Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Āstīka Parva, Chapters 40–51)

Āśramavāsika Parva: the darśana given to Janamejaya

In the Mahābhārata’s own frame story, Janamejaya asked Vyāsa to let him see his father Parīkṣit in the very form, dress and age that he had at his death. Janamejaya wished to believe fully the account of the meeting that Vyāsa had given to Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Gāndhārī at the Gaṅgā. Vyāsa called Parīkṣit. He appeared shining, as if come down from svarga (heaven). With him came Maharṣi Śamīka and Śamīka’s son Śṛṅgi, the ṛṣi and the ṛṣi’s son whose śāpa had led to Parīkṣit’s death by Takṣaka’s bite. This darśana (sight) took place at the avabhṛtha bath that closed the sarpa-yajña which Janamejaya had undertaken to avenge his father’s death. (Mahābhārata, Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapter 35)

Mahā Prasthānika Parva: crowned king at the great departure

Yudhiṣṭhira decided on the great departure after Kṛṣṇa had gone and the Vṛṣṇis had been ruined. He crowned the young Parīkṣit as king in his own city of Hastināpura. He set the Yādava Vajra over Indraprastha. He charged Subhadrā to guard her grandson. He told her not to think of following those who were giving up the world while a child still needed protection. He gave Parīkṣit as a pupil to his honoured teacher Kṛpācārya. The remaining mothers of the household stayed near Parīkṣit as the Pāṇḍavas went away. So the throne of the Kurus passed safely to Abhimanyu’s son at the close of the age. (Mahābhārata, Mahā Prasthānika Parva, Chapter 1)

Sources

• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 1st Skanda, Chapters 7–8, 12, 16–19
• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 12th Skanda, Chapters 5–6
• Viṣṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Chaturdhāmsa, Chapter 20
• Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skanda 2, Chapters 8–10
• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaiṣṇava Khaṇḍa, Bhāgavata Purāṇa Māhātmya, Chapters 1–3
• Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Āstīka Parva, Chapters 40–51
• Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapter 16
• Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapters 60–70
• Mahābhārata, Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapter 35
• Mahābhārata, Mahā Prasthānika Parva, Chapter 1