He was the son of Parikshit, who ascended to the throne at a young age following his father’s untimely death. When he reached maturity and learned that his father had been killed by the serpent king, Takshaka, he resolved to avenge his father’s death by performing the grand Sarpa Satra, a powerful snake sacrifice intended to annihilate all the serpents in the world.
The sacrifice was performed with fierce determination, and countless serpents were drawn into the sacrificial fire through the power of incantations. The spectacle was intense, as the chanting priests summoned the serpents from every corner of the earth, pulling them to their doom. One by one, many of the great serpents met their end in the blazing flames.
However, when Takshaka himself was about to be drawn into the fire, Sage Vyasa, the revered author of the Mahabharata and a guiding figure in the epic’s events, intervened at the last moment. He appeared at the sacrificial arena and advised the young king to reconsider the purpose and consequences of such a merciless act. Vyasa argued that Takshaka had acted as an instrument of fate in Parikshit’s death, which had been divinely ordained due to Parikshit’s own actions. With Vyasa’s wisdom and insight, the king realized that vengeance on such a scale was against the cosmic order of dharma and ultimately relented.
The Sarpa Satra thus ended before Takshaka could be sacrificed, sparing his life due to Vyasa’s intervention. This marked a moment where compassion and wisdom overcame wrath, reminding future generations of the importance of balance and justice.