Mahabharata – 67

by 

Sankar Mukherjee

&

Dr Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya
                                            AdiParva

                                   Astika & the fire sacrifice
Human civilization today is out to destroy the environment thanks to
modern science & chemistry. A similar incident took place in the world
of the Mahabharata. King Janamejaya was very powerful there. His
father was killed by the snake Takshka. King Janamejaya wanted to take
revenge not only on Takshaka but also on the species known as snakes.
The best of the then wisest men supported the king. Janamejaya raised
a sacrificial fire with the aid of Brahamins. The Brahamins chanted
mantras. The mantras compelled the snakes to fly into the flames of
the sacrificial fire & die.
Mayhem of the snakes could not be possible perhaps had Janamejaya
alone decided to destroy the snakes. The great mother of the snakes
Kadru had cursed them that they should be wiped off from the face of
the creation. Her curse seemed to materialize through Janamejaya’s
fire sacrifice intended to kill all the snakes.
The snakes were also aware of the curse of their primordial mother
upon them. They were however advised that the sister of snake king
Vasuki whose name was Manasa should be married to the great sage
Jaratkaru. Their child would rescue the snakes of the world from the
impending doom.
In the mean time Manasa was married to Jaratkaru. And she had a son by
him. The name  if the son was Astika. Early in his childhood Astika
became a great sage well  versed in the scriptures .When  Janamejaya
launched the fire sacrifice of the snakes it sent  terror into the
heart of the snakes all over the world. The snake king great Vasuki
himself was struck with terror.And at his instance Manasa summoned her
child Astika & asked him to act to save the community of the snakes.
Astika assured his mother & his maternal uncle the snake king Vasuki &
hurried to the site where the sacrificial fire was lit.
It was a vast campus where the snake sacrifice was being observed. The
campus was surrounded by a formidable wall. At the gate there were
fierce gate keepers. They would not allow any stranger to get into the
campus where the great snake sacrifice was taking place.
 The gate keepers saw the child Brahamin  Astika in front of them
begging entrance into the snake sacrifice campus. The gate keepers
were fierce. They refused the child sage. But the child sage was full
of praise of the gate keepers. Their obedience to their royal master
was commendable. The little child of a sage Astika praised the
sacrifice as well. He at the same time praised the king who initiated
the sacrifice. Thus the little child sage made his way into the very
place where the great king Janamejaya was seated surrounded by the
most powerful priests whose mantras could over power Nature. And there
was a vast gathering of the wisest men of the world including
Vedavyasa the composer of the Mahabharata. Astika was not frightened
in the least even in front of this great & noble gathering. He praised
the priests. He praised the king. He praise the wise gathering. He
opined that such a wonderful fire sacrifice  could match with those
conducted by gods themselves. The fire sacrifice conducted by Indra
the king of heavens also paled before the fire sacrifice being
organized by Janamejaya. The fire god was also praised by Astika. The
golden hue of the fire & the dalliance of the flames was never
witnessed  before in historical times. In short the little child sage
Astika’s appearance at the assembly before the sdacrificial fire
generated a calm & happiness among all the great men present there.
The king was very happy with the little Brahamin sage. He at once
wanted to grant him any boon whatever. But the chief priest of the
sacrifice, the hota who invoked the gods Chandabhargava by name
stopped  the king from granting any boon to the little sage. True that
millions of snakes had already fallen into the fire. They had more
than one head. Many of them had countless heads. They were very strong
& powerful but the mantras swept them into the fire just as the wild
west wind sweeps the dry autumnal leaves. But Takshaka the great &
famous snake who had killed king Parikshit the father of Janamejaya
had not showed up as yet. So Chandabhargava was keen on accomplishing
his project of snake killing & he did not allow any interruption to
the same. Indra the king of the gods was a great friend of Takshaka &
when Janamejayaa’s fire was lit at Hastinapur on earth Takshaka rushed
to Indra’s for rufuge. Just as at Jatinga in Assam there used to be a
miraculous fire into whose flames birds used to commit sucide,
similarly the sacrificial fire made the snakes leap into death there.
But there was no sign of Takshaka appearing. The fire god told the
priests that the Takshaka had taken the shelter of Indra the king of
heaven. The priests chanted mantras so that Takshaka along with the
god who had given him shelter was pulled to the fire.   In  other words
men were ready to kill even the gods if their desires were rebuffed.
The mantras of the men were so powerful that even Indra the king of
the gods appeared in a chariot in the skies. Takshaka was hidden in
the shwal of Indra. Lo! It was a grand sight. Indra was there in the
sky helpless sheltering Takshaka, his chariot slowly moving to the
fire .Indra was surrounded by thirty three  cores of  gods & countless
 celestial dames They were slowly moving towards the fire against
their will. No other poet in the world has ventured such a mass
massacre of gods. While the sky was alight with the thousands of gods
destined to die because of human contrivance the little child sage
Astika fully confident at heart showed no unrest of mind. Finally
Indra, scared of being killed along with all the gods abandoned
Takshaka  in the air & fled back to the heaven with his retinues.
Takshaka left in the air roared & groaned that made the world awa
struck. This made the priests happy Takshaka seemed to have been
arrested by the mantras. Now to burn him in the sacrificial fire would
not be difficult .But the wise priest did not noticed that Takshaka
was hanging in the air like the king Trisanku who hanged in the air
being  neither on the earth nor in the heaven impelled by the prowess
of  the great sage Viswamitra. In fact while Takshaka had showed up in
the air rushing down towards the fire groaning & roaring.The little
child sage Astika had ordered the snake to linger in the air.
Now taking leave of the surrounding sages Janamejaya asked the child
sage to ask from him for any boon. The child sage wanted that the
sacrifice should stop in no  moment. Janamejaya requested Astika to
ask for any other boon excepting that. But Astika said that he did not
asked for any other boon. So Janamejaya had to grant the boon that
Astika had asked for.Momently the chanting of mantras was stopped.
Streams of water were being poured to extinguish the fire& Takshaka
returned home hale & hearty. Was not Janamejaya saddened by the sudden
turn of events? Not at all. The sages & the Brahamins who had gathered
at the sacrifice were happy that the snakes were rescued Janamejaya
made profuse gifts to all the sages & Brahimins who had gathered. The
concourse dispersed in great glee. Janamejaya approached the child
sage Astika & most humbly requested him to be the chief priest of the
horse sacrifice that he would organize in times to come.
The episode is singularly unique. Even Vedavyasa the author of the
Mahabharata was present at the snake sacrifice. He had supported it on
the surface. But his creation -- a child sage Astika  annulled the
authors design. This is not all. True that the snake sacrifice had
started in all  earnest. But once the snake sacrifice was stopped
there was no one who was dissatisfied. Not even king Janamejaya was
sorry who wanted to  take revenge upon the snakes because of his
father’s demise due to snake bite. Astika now went back home &
prostrated at the feet of his mother Manasa & at the feet of maternal
uncle the snake king Vasuki. All passions spent there was the calm of
mind. In a flash the whole snake world plunged into jubilation. It
prostrated at the feet of Astika the child sage. They were ready to
give away Astika all their heart & their belongings .But  Astika asked
for only one boon from the snakes. Who ever would chant the name of
Astika must not be bitten by the snakes. They readily granted the
boon. So henceforth dear readers you must not be scared of the snakes.
Love them. Respect them if we are pursued by a snake we must remember
Astika who did not only save the snakes from their imminent death. He
also saved the mankind from the fear of the snakes. Astika’s mother
Manasa is also worshiped by all of us because she gave  birth to the
Emmanuel.
The snakes embraced each other. Great feast was organized in the snake
world. There fireworks in merriment astonished man on earth  & gods
in heaven. Nature was loud in glee.