‘தட்சகன் விஷமயமானவன். அவன் பூமி மீது எஞ்சுவது பேரபாயம்’ என்றார் ஸௌனகர்.

‘ஸௌனகரே, விஷம் இல்லையேல் அமுதும் இல்லை. தட்சகன் காமமூர்த்தி. சகலவிதமான செயலூக்கங்களுக்கும் காரணம் அவனே. அதை மறவாதீர்!’ (- ஆஸ்திகன்)

English translation:

‘Takshaka is poisonous. Leaving him alive on earth is a disaster’ said Shounaka.

‘Shounaka, there is no amudham (elixir) without poison. Takshaka is icon of desire. He is the cause of all kinds of karya-karma motivations. Don’t forget that!’ (said by Astika)

Short story – இறுதி விஷம் – Jeyamohan

This is an argument between Astika – the naishtika brahmachari – with minister Saunaka during the Snake sacrifice yagna performed by King Janamejaya. This is from a short story இறுதி விஷம் (‘Final Poison‘) written with a Mahabharata theme by Writer Jeyamohan.

Mahabharata was an interesting epic no one can avoid. During this series I am planning to write about 28 paintings of Mahabharata. Here is the first one – the snake sacrifice.

Parikshit – the last existed descendant after the cruel Mahabharata war – was dreaded by the fear of snake bite. He isolated himself from everyone, every place. We know the bitter meaning of isolation in this covid-19 period, isn’t it? He did not even had mobile phones or internet enabled laptops then 🙂 He was afraid because has was cursed to die of snake bite in 7 days.

Nothing could save him. He bite a fruit on the 7th day. The worm inside the fruit transformed itself in to a scary snake. He is nothing but the super king of Naga – Takshaka. The snake bite Parikshit. Before someone could save him, the poison killed him instantly. Takshaka went away silently without a trace.

Prince Janamejaya enraged by this. He wanted to perform the powerful yagna – the sarpa sattra. This is a sacrificial ritual that would force all the snakes in this world to come and get into fire to perform self-sacrifice (suicide). All snakes died in this yagna. Takshaka was the one left alone. He came for self sacrifice with reluctance. His death would be the death of all snake creatures of this world.

There came Astika to save him. One of his arguments to justify the life of Takshaka were given in the beginning of this blog post. Janamejaya tried to cover up his decision of killing all the snakes as a dharma for his father’s death. Astika questioned him about dharma on behalf of the snakes being killed. To make Janamejaya to know about dharma, Astika suggested him to summon Vaisampayana – Sage Vyasa’s disciple – who knows the story of his forefathers.

This is how Mahabharata narration to Janamejaya starts! We know the rest. Emperor Akbar made the epic to be translated into Persian as the Razmnama or the Book of War, at his court. Some of the paintings of this work are given above.

The snake sacrifice happened in Takshashila, now in Pakistan.

References / Gratitude:

• The illustrated Mahabharata, Dorling Kindersley India, Penguin Random House, 1st Ed. 2017
• https://thereaderwiki.com
• https://www.dawn.com/news/1467781

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