Mahabharata – 62
by
Sankar Mukherjee
&
Dr Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya
                             AdiParva.
                        Birth of Astika
We know that the fate of the serpent race was hanging in the balance.Kadru the mother of the snakes cursed them that they would be
exterminated from the face of the earth.To do away with the spell of the curse Vasuki the king of the snakes was keen on preemptive steps.He must get his sister Jaratkaru married to the sage Jaratkaru so that a child were born who would save the race of serpents.

Now that Jaratkaru had promised to his forefathers that he would marry,he resumed his globe trooting once again & surely during this phase of his wanderings he had in his mind the notion of getting married.He travelled all over the globe.But no one would offer him a
bride for a marriage.Because he looked too old for his age but Jaratkaru must keep his word.So he entered into a dense forest & cried thrice to announce that he was willing to marry a girl whose name should be Jaratkaru.The messengers of the snake king were about.They
moved like lightening & told Vasuki the snake king that Jaratkaru was there in the forest.The snake king surrounded by his courtiers rushed to  Jaratkaru the sage & humbly offered his own sister to Jaratkaru so that she could be  his bride.But Jaratkaru must marry the woman whose name was identical with his name.And it was a divine coincidence that Vasuki’s sister name was Jaratkaru.It was identical with the name of the sage.The sage told Vasuki that he would marry the princess Jaratkaru.But he would not take any responsibilities of maintaing his wife.Vasuki was agreed to whatever terms & condition that the sage Jaratkaru had set forward for getting married with Vasuki’s sister.

So in great pomp & glory Vasuki’s sister was married to the sage Jaratkaru.

The marriage of a princess with a sage was not an exceptional inicident in ancient India.And surely the princess of the kingdom of Anga married the sage Risyasinga so that thereby the
kingdom of Anga could be saved from draught & famine.
Having married Vasuki’s sister Jaratkaru went to the palace of Vasuki he was given the whole control of the palace.It was milk white with every furniture dazzling as it were in moonlight.In the bridal bed itself the sage Jaratkaru told his wife Jaratkaru that he would live in the palace with his wife as long as she obeyed him.Even if there were any disobedence on her part over any trifle he would give her up once for all.Vasuki’s sister said yes to that.In the mean time her
fertile period set in.She begged physical union with sage Jaratkaru & sage Jaratkaru complied with the request.No wonder,the first intercourse between them sowed the seed in the womb of the sister of Vasuki,But alas! every union & consummation is dogged after by
separation & desperate condition.
One day in the afternoon the sage Jaratkaru fell asleep keeping his head on the lap of his wife.The afternoon soon turned into evening.Now the wife of the sage Jaratkaru was put in dillema.The evening means the conflunce of the day & night. It is a precious hour. Every
Brahamin should wake up this hour & have his prayer.So the wife of Jaratkaru felt that it was her duty to awaken her sage husband before the evening passes by.Or else he might later wake up from the sleep & fire her.But at the same time she remembered that Jaratkaru had told her that she must not stand in the way of his wishes.When he would want to sleep she must let him sleep.When he would want to wake up she must let him wake up.Finally he decided to awken the sage from sleep lest he missed the hour for prayer.
As soon as Jartkaru woke up from sleep he was in a huff.His wife told him that she awakened him --- the sage, lest he missed the hour for prayer.But Jaratkaru posited angrily that the evening had no power to pass away without letting Jaratkaru pray.That a sage skilled in
penance not only could control his own mind, he could control nature & even time.Be as it may now that Jaratkaru felt that he was disobeyed by his wife he would leave her wife & the comforts of palace & resume his wanderings. But her wife was in tears.The whole snake society was looking forward to her.She must have a child that would save them from their impending doom.The sage Jaratkaru told her that the seed was already sown in her womb.And it must grow into a child of great spiritual prowess that would save both the races of his mother & father from impending doom.She could be rest assured as to that.
Now abandoned by her husband, Jaratkaru the sister of Vasuki went back to her royal elder brother.Vasuki was sad to learn that the sage had left her.But she told her elder brother that she was carrying & her sage husband said that her child would save the race of the snakes.She
told Vasuki that her husband was indeed a great sage & truthful.His prophesy would not fail.Vasuki was very pleased to learn that.He saw to that his sister should be in great comfort.In due course the child was born.His father the sage Jaratkaru had told his mother that he was in the womb.He exclaimed  ---- Asti.Asti meaning --- it exists.That is the child existed in the womb of Vasuki’s sister.Hence when the child was born it was called Astika
The birth of Astika brought great joy to the snake world.They sang & danced to the beats of drums & hissing laughter.They unfurled their hoods in great glee.The gems of the  hoods shone bright like the stars in the milky way of the firmament.The flowers also laughed with
them.The creepers also danced with them.The Sun  & the Moon smilled in happiness.
Soon the baby Astika became a child fit to be sent to school.The king Vasuki requested the great sage Pramati descended of Bhrigu race & the son of Chyavana to take the charge of his education & very early in his boy hood he learned all the scriptures & was plunged in meditation & the cultivation of compassion.