JANAMEJAYA YAGYA

Janamejaya was saddened with grief after hearing the tale of how his father passed away. Meanwhile a Sage Uttanka approached Janamejaya and provoked him to take revenge on his father’s killer Takshakan and perform Sarpa Yagya (Sacrifice of Serpents) and command Takshakan into the Fire Pit (Homa Kunda) and sacrifice all the Serpents in the process as they bite people and harm everybody and must indeed be deemed as evil. Sage Uttanka told the King that his father could not go to heaven because of snake bite. When Janamejaya heard these words, he was rendered speechless for a while due to anger.Once he regained control over himself he thanked Utanka, for bringing the consequences of harm caused by snakes in the world and decided to perform the Sarpa Yagya. Convinced thus, the King ordered that the Yagya be arranged.

King Janamejaya then made arrangements for this sacrifice. He invited the greatest sages and priests to conduct this sacrifice. This was a truly great undertaking, for the rituals for this sacrifice were arduous, and had to be exactly followed, if the sacrifice was to bear fruit. A suitable spot was chosen and the great sacrificial hall was constructed. A platform was raised in its midst and was decked with valuable articles. This was where the Brahmanas would sit. The officiating priest sat in its middle. The king also underwent the rituals that will purify him to participate in the sacrifice. The great sacrifice began. As the rishis chanted the appropriate Mantras and poured the clarified butter into the fire, snakes, impelled by the power of these incantations, started converging from all over the world. There were snakes of all shapes and sizes, some of them were as large as buildings, some as small as insects. As the priests called each snake by name and uttered the fatal words, "fall into fire", that snake would meet its fiery end into the sacrificial fire. 

Seeing this massacre of his fellow snakes, Takshakan was worried and immediately went to Indra to ask for his shelter. Indra gave him shelter and asked him to cling on to the legs of his throne and promised that he would be safe there.

After a while when immense number of snakes fell in the sacrificial fire and Takshakan did not appear, Janamejaya asked - "Where is Takshakan? I want him to fall here. I am not interested in these ones". The chief sage told Janamejaya that Takshakan has surrendered to Lord Indra and is under the protection of Indra by clinging onto the legs of his throne. Janamejaya was furious and ordered Lord Indra to be invoked and put into the fire along with the rogue Takshakan as he has given shelter to evil. So the sage though hesitant because he is chanting a mantra that will end the life of one of the most powerful Gods, started chanting mantras to call Indra "May  Takshakan fall into this fire, accompanied by Indra". Such was the potency of the invocation and the power of the Rishis, that Indra’s throne started shaking and falling towards Janamejaya’ s Yagya Kund. Seeing this Indra got worried. Both Indra and Takshakan started falling into the sacrificial fire, bound to each other. When Indra saw that his friend's fate was inevitable, he let go of Takshakan and decided to save himself. Takshakan then started falling alone into the fire. That was when Astika came running to the sacrificial ceremony ground and ordered the Yagya to be stopped.

In the olden days, there was a Sage Jaratkaru who was practicing high devotion to Devi Bhagavati in a forest. He had a vision of his dead father and forefathers in a cave who were suffering in their afterlife as the karmas that had to be performed after one's death had not been done as their only descendant had eloped from home when he was a small boy. That boy was none other than Jaratkaru. He immediately realized his mistake and vowed to bring an end to his ancestors suffering. To perform the rituals and attain its highest effect the one performing it must be married if he has attained his marriageable age. Thus he decided to marry a girl named Jaratkaru (yes, her name also is Jaratkaru) who was the sister of the serpent Vasuki. They had a son called Astika. Since the serpents were all uncles to Astika he decided to stop Janamejaya’s Yagya upon the orders from his mother.

But how do you stop a powerful king who is in a fury to avenge his father's death??! By the politeness in Astika's voice he meekly spoke to Janamejaya and praised him about the Yagya that he has never seen a Yagya as powerful and righteous as this. Janamejaya flattered wished to bestow him a boon. And Astika's only wish was to stop the snake sacrifice. Bound by his word, Janamejaya spared Takshakan and the other snakes but asked Astika to grant a solution whereby innocent people won’t be killed by these evil snakes. Thus Astika told the gathering that since he was the nephew of the snakes, his mere name "ASTIKA" would ward off any snake along with which they can recite the following lines:

The below narration is corroborated by the sarpa raksha mantra that is recited every day during Sandhyavandhanam. Ignoring minor variations, the mantra goes as follows:

“नर्मदायै नमः प्रातः नर्मदायै नमो निशि
नमोऽस्तु नर्मदे तुभ्यं त्राहि मां विषसर्पदः

सर्पापसर्प भद्रं त गच्छ सर्प महाविष।
जनमेजयस्य यज्ञान्ते आस्तीकवचं स्मर।।

जरत्कार्वोर्जरत्कर्वां समुत्पन्न महायशाः
अस्तीक सत्यसन्धो मां पन्नगेभ्यो अभिरक्षतु”

MEANING

“O Narmada, I offer you salutations in the morning & night (during sandhya vandana); Protect me from poisonous snakes

O virulent snake, recollecting the words of Astika at the end of King Janamejaya’s sacrifice, may you go away.

Astika, born of muni Jaratkaru and his wife of the same name, was a great soul. He, the protector of the truth, will protect me from the serpents.”

Janamejaya was convinced with Astika's words to stop the sacrifice but he pondered over the arrangements made for the sacrifice and how everything would go to waste. That’s when Vyasar stepped in and advised Janamejaya that for the rest of the 7 days his disciple Vysampayanar would deliver a discourse on the ancestors of Janamejaya and thus the entire MAHABHARATA was told to Janamejaya and to us.

Next Up: The Kuru Parivar