Janamejaya’s Snake
Sacrifice.
Parikshit son
Janamejayan came to know about the curse which killed his father.
‘The curse
specifically stated that my father was to be bitten by Takshakan not die due to
the bite. When this is the case, why didn’t anyone try to revive my father?’
asked King Janamejayan.
‘There was one Brahmana who tried to appear by your father’s side so that he can cure
Takshakan’s bite but Takshakan met this Brahman en-route, bribed him with gold
and prevented the Brahmana from coming to your father’s aide.’
‘How cruel! It was
very spiteful of Takshakan. Because of Takshakan’s spite, I had to suffer
without a father. Such mean minded and cruel personalities should be removed
from earth. Help me perform an abhijara yagnam to kill all snakes!’
Thus the Brahmins
helped Janamejaya perform the snake sacrifice in which thousands of snakes were
burnt alive. Takshakan was afraid for his life. He rushed to Swarka Lokam and
sought the protection of Devendra.
‘Have all the
snakes including Takshakan been burnt?’ asked Janamejayan.
‘Takshakan is
nowhere to be found. It looks like he is under the protection of Devendra.’
‘If Devendra will
not release Takshakan to us, throw both Devendra and Takshakan in to the fire!’
said Janamejayan.
Devendran
immediately pushed Takshakan to fall down into the sacrificial fire in order to
save himself from being burnt by Janamejayan.
At that moment a
young Brahmachari rishi called Astikar appeared.
Astika’s father was Jaratkaru an old sage.
Jaratkaru decided to spend the rest of his life as a Brahmachari without
getting married. One day he saw his deceased ancestors hanging upside down over
a pit.
‘Why are you hanging upside down over
this pit?’ he asked them.
‘We can be freed if you got married
and had a son.’
‘I promise to marry if the girl has
the same name as me.’
Jaratkaru searched far and wide but
did not find any girl named as Jaratkaru.
Vasuki the serpent king came to know
about the sage’s vow. He had a sister named Jaratkaru. Vasuki approached the
sage and offered the hand of his sister Jaratkaru in marriage.
Vasuki had heard a prophecy that his
sister Jaratkaru would marry a sage and their son would prevent the impending
sarpa-bali yagnam.
After a few days sage Jaratkaru
decided to leave his wife.
‘You are leaving me now, is there any
prospect of progeny?’ she asked him to which he replied ‘there is; asti’ in
Sanskrit.
Thus, the boy was named Astika.
Astika praised the
sacrifice and sought a boon from Janamejayan. All the other rishis at
Janamejayan’s sacrifice, requested the king to grant boon to Astikar. Astikar
asked Janamejayan to stop the sacrifice and save Takshakan. As Janamejayan had
promised to grant any boon to astikar, he stopped the sacrifice and thus
Takshakan was saved.
As many rishis had
gathered at the sacrificial ground, Janamejayan requested Sage Vaisampayanar to
narrate the Mahabharata.
Esoteric Interpretation:
Per Sri Narayan Aiyyangar in his book , "The Essays on Indo Aryan Mythology", snakes represent evil tendencies.
Janamejaya's killing the snakes means his killing the evil tendencies. Sage Jaratkaru means old poet i.e, an enlightened
soul. His wife Jaratkaru is the Brahma Vidhya or faith. They get Paramatma
as their son Astika. The son is named Astika because of the belief of the Sage
in the Lord’s existence. Once Janamejaya has killed evil tendencies, the son
Astika appears before Janamejaya. Takshaka as we have seen in the esoteric
explanation of Parikshit’s curse is Moksham or final death. Thus Takshaka saved
represents liberation granted to Janamejaya.
Thus, Srimadh
Bagawatha Sapthaham begins with curse of Parikshit and ends with the sarpa-bali yagam of
Janamejayan!
Concluded
