Mahabharata 13.55.9

13.55.9

cyavana uvāca |
śṛṇu sarvamaśeṣeṇa yadidaṃ yena hetunā |
na hi śakyamanākhyātumevaṃ pṛṣṭena pārthiva || 9 ||

"Chyavana said, 'Listen to me as I tell thee in detail the reasons which had impelled me in all these acts of mine. Asked by thee, O monarch, I cannot refuse to enlighten thee. In days past, on one occasion, when the deities had assembled together, the Grandsire Brahman said some words I heard them, O king, and shall presently repeat them to thee.' In consequence of a contention between Brahmana and Kshatriya energy, there will occur an intermixture in my race. Thy grandson, O king, will become endued with great energy and puissance. Hearing this, I came hither, resolved to exterminate thy race. Indeed, I came, O Kusika, seeking the utter extermination of thy race,--in fact, for consuming into ashes all thy descendants. Impelled by this motive I came to thy palace, O monarch, and said unto thee, 'I shall observe some vow. Do thou attend upon me and serve me dutifully. While residing, however, in thy house I failed to find any laches in thee. It is for that reason, O royal sage, that thou art still alive, for otherwise thou wouldst have by this time been numbered with the dead. It was with this resolution that I slept for one and twenty days in the hope that somebody would awake me before I arose of my own accord. Thou, however, with thy wife, didst not awaken me. Even then, O best of kings, I became pleased with thee. Rising from my bed I went out of the chamber without accosting any of you.