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According to legend, Sarpa Satra or Snake sacrifice was a yagna performed by Emperor Janamejaya of the Kuru empire who had ascended to the throne of Hastinapura upon the death of his father Parikshit. The legend states that Parikshit, the lone descendant of the House of Pandu, son of Abhimanyu and grand son of Arjuna of the Mahabharata fame, had died of snakebite. He had been cursed by a sage to die so, the curse having been consummated by the serpent-chieftain Takshaka. Janamejaya bore a deep grudge against the serpents for this act, and thus decided to wipe them out altogether. He attempted this by performing a great ''Sarpa Satra'' – a sacrifice that would destroy all living serpents. At that time, a learned sage named Astika, a boy in age, came and intervened to stop the yagna; Astika's mother Jaratkaru also known as Manasa was a Naga and father was also Jarakaru, a saintly Brahmin. Janamejaya had to listen to the words of the learned Astika and set Takshaka free. He also stopped the massacre of the snakes (Nagas) and ended all the enmity with them. From then onward the snakes (Nagas) and Kurus lived in peace. ==Background== The earliest background to this revengeful act of the snake sacrifice or Sarpa satra to kill snakes is traced to Arjuna, father of Abhimanyu and grandfather of Janamejaya who had caused the death of the wife of the snake chieftain Takshaka and millions of other living beings when he set fire to the rainforests to establish the kingdom of the Pandavas at Indraprastha. According to Mahabharata legend, snakes were cursed by their mother Kadru when they refused to obey her request to cheat by turning the tail of the white horse Ucchashrava to a black colour to win a bet against her sister Vinita. Then her sons led by Vasuki held deliberations on the way to stop the snake sacrifice or Sarpa Satra yagna that may be initiated by Janamajeya to kill the race. Takshaka was also one of Kadru's sons who had opposed his mother's request. He had been thrown out of the house by his mother. He then moved out to form his own band of snakes. Elapatra who was one of the Brahmin priests listening to the discussions held by the snakes and the comments made by Vasuki told them that no body could prevent the sacrifice from being held by Janamejaya as it was ordained by gods to eliminate the evil snakes which had multiplied in number, and by their unchecked biting and killing of people were the cause of misery to people in the world. But the noble snakes would, however, be saved by the intervention of sage Jaratkaru’s son Astika. He also told the snake king Vasuki and others that that was the reason for the gods not interfering when Kadru cursed her sons to be destroyed in the Sarpa Satra yagna. Elapatra also informed that Brahma had willed that Jaratkaru, the noble and learned saint would marry the sister of Vasuki whose name was also Jaratkaru and the son born to them, who would be known as Astika, would stop the Sarapa Satra yagna. Vasuki and the other snakes, there after paid close attention to the movements of the sage Jaratkaru who was roaming in the forests. They were advised to note any utterance of the saint seeking a bride for himself to marry. As the sage Jarakaru was busy with his ascetic penances, Parikshit, the king of the Kuru Dynasty who was on a hunting spree in the forests, was thirsty and came across a saint sitting in deep penance. Parikshit asked him for water but the sage did not respond as he was in deep meditation. But the king was annoyed and he killed a snake with a stick and in a rage put the dead snake around the neck of the sage. The sage did not show any emotion nor did he curse the king. Parikshit seeing the sage in that state repented for his act and returned to his kingdom. Then the sage’s son Sringin, who saw a dead snake around his father’s neck, was deeply disturbed and raged against his colleague, Krisa, for taking it as a joke. Krisa informed his friend that Parikshit, the son of Abhimanyu, who was on a hunting expedition in the forest had perpetrated this act. Hearing this Sringin cursed that Parikshit would die of snake bite inflicted by the chief of snakes, Takshaka, within seven nights. He then informed his ascetic father of the curse that he had given to Parikshit. The sage, Samika, was displeased with the curse and told his son Sringin that it was improper to curse a noble king who was the protector of all, particularly when the king had acted out of impulse as he was thirsty and was seeking water from him. But his son stood by his curse. However, sage Samika sent one his disciples, Gaurmukha, to inform the king Parikhsit of the curse of his son, though he himself was opposed to it. Parikhsit became repentant for his act of hurting the sentiments of a noble sage but was not disturbed to hear about his death by snakebite. The king then took all protective action to save himself of any snake bite and in consultation with his ministers securely confined himself. On the seventh day, when the chief of snakes Takshaka was going towards Hastinapur to kill Parikshit, the learned sage Kashyapa who had heard the story of the curse on the king was also on his way to save the king of the snakebite. Takshaka met him on the way and told him that nothing could prevent him in killing the king and that no body could even save him. He then challenged Kasyhapa by totally burning a banyan tree to ashes with his poison and asking the sage to revive it. Kashyapa revived the tree and Takshaka realized that Kashyapa could be lured by riches of gold and other gifts. Kashyapa by his deep thoughts also perceived that Parikshit’s life span had come to an end and that he would not live further. He then accepted the gifts offered by Takshaka and went away. Then Takshaka went to Hastinapur in the disguise of a Brahmin and realizing that the king was protected by spells, decided to approach the king by deceit. He sent an emissary with a plate of fruits, Kusa grass and water to be offered to the king which was accepted by the king. As the evening sun had set on the seventh day, the king decided to eat the fruit thinking that his hour of death was stalled. He found an insect in the fruit and picked it up and placed it on his neck saying that if it was Takshaka the snake let it bite him. It was truly Takshaka in the disguise of an insect who then appeared in his true form, coiled himself around the neck of the king, bit the king and killed him. The last rites of the king were performed by a Brahmin priest as the King’s son was a minor. The minor son was anointed the king and given the name Janamejaya meaning "the slayer of all enemies.” Janamajeya ruled the Kuru empire of his great grandfather Yudhishtira. He ruled the kingdom wisely and heroically like a monarch. He got married to Vapushtama, the daughter of king of VaranasiKasi. During this period, Jaratkaru who was roaming around the forest met a group of manes, who were his ancestors and who were hanging upside down waiting for salvation to go to heaven. They informed Jaratkaru that their only descendant was Jaratkaru and if he gets married and begets a son then only they would be relieved of their present state and then go heaven. Jaratkaru revealed his identity to the manes and requested them to tell him the way he could help them. They then told him to get married and beget a son. He promised to act on their advice and then roamed around the forest seeking a bride. He addressed the forest space, nobody in particular, to find a father who could offer his daughter of the same name as his, whom he could marry. Vasuki, who was waiting to hear such an utterance from Jaratkaru, was informed of the pleading of Jaratkaru. Vasuki then came forward and offered his sister to Jaratkaru to marry as her name was also Jaratkaru. Vasuki also promised the sage that he would maintain his sister for all time as he had brought her up only to marry him. Hearing this Jaratkaru agreed to marry Vasuki’s sister and moved to stay in the house of Vasuki, where he was provided with suitable accommodation to live with his wife. He took a promise from his wife that she would do nothing which will hurt him or upset his daily chores and in case she does not follow his injunctions he would then desert her. On one particular day, when he was tired, he slept on his wife’s lap. As he was sleeping soundly she did not wake him up for his evening prayers. As the sun was about to set his wife Jaratkaru, preferring to invite his wrath than prevent him from performing his religious rites, whispered to her husband and woke him up and told him to perform his evening’s religious rites as the twilight was setting on the west. The sage got up and became very furious for not waking him up in time and told his wife that the time had now come for him to leave her. She then pleaded with the sage to bestow her with a child as she was married to him by her relatives only for this purpose, to overcome the curse of their mother Kadru. He then made her conceive and told her that the son who would be born would be "highly virtuous, and a master of the Vedas and their branches". He then left her and retired to the forest to do penance. Vasuki, who was informed by his sister of what had transpired with her husband, told her that it would be better to await the birth of her child who will benefit their race than go in pursuit of her husband and invite his wrath. Soon a son was born to her under the care of her brother and other snake relatives, whom they named Astika, meaning "whoever is" as his father Jaratkaru had uttered "There is" when he was in his mother’s womb. Astika, right from the young age, showed celestial features. He was brought up in the house of Vasuki, his uncle. He became proficient in Vedic scriptures, and was taught by sage Chyavana, son Maharishi Bhrigu. He was rigid in his habits without any indulgences and was saintly. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sarpa Satra」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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