Skandapurana 3.1.41

The venerable Sūta said:

"Now, therefore, I shall fully relate, concerning Gāyatrī and Sarasvatī,

a holy tale, O best of brahmins.

Formerly, a brahmin named Kaśyapa, in this auspicious pair of sacred fords,

having bathed, was released from a very great sin that would have consigned him to hell."

The seers said:

"O sage, what sin did this one named Kaśyapa commit,

from which he became liberated in an instant after bathing in this pair of sacred fords?

Tell this to us who are faithful, O Sūta, out of the power of your compassion;

to us who are satiated by the nectar of your speech, there is not even thirst."

The venerable Sūta said:

"I shall relate an ancient narrative establishing the māhātmya

of Gāyatrī and Sarasvatī, which destroys sin for those who hear it.

The son of Abhimanyu, a king by the name of Parīkṣit,

dwelt in Hāstinapura, protecting the earth according to righteousness.

Once, that king, intent on hunting, roamed in the forest.

Sixty years of age, the king was afflicted by hunger and thirst.

Eagerly tracking a single deer that had been lost in the forest,

he saw a sage immersed in meditation, clad in bark garments, and said to him:

'O sage, a deer was just struck by me with an arrow in the forest;

was it seen by you, O wise one, fleeing in distress and fear?'

Established in absorption, [the sage] did not say anything at all because of his vow of silence.

Then, having placed a dead serpent on the shoulder of that great sage

with the tip of his bow, [the king], enraged, went to his own city.

That sage had a son named Śṛṅgin.

That Śṛṅgin had a friend named Kṛśa, O best of brahmins.

Then that friend named Kṛśa said to his friend Śṛṅgin:

'Your father now carries a dead snake on his shoulder!

Let there be no pride in you, friend; do not indulge in vain arrogance.'

Enraged and eager to pronounce a curse upon the king, Śṛṅgin said:

'That foolish-minded one who placed a snake's corpse on my father—

may he die within seven nights, bitten by the serpent Takṣaka!'

Thus the sage's son cursed Parīkṣit, the son of Subhadrā's son."

Hearing that the king had been cursed by his son, his father, named Śamīka,

that foremost of sages spoke to his son Śṛṅgin:

"Why did you curse the king, the protector of all the worlds?

In a kingless world, how shall we truly survive?

Through anger sin has arisen; you will obtain no happiness.

He who dispels aroused anger solely through forbearance

flourishes with supreme happiness in this world and in the next.

For people endowed with forbearance attain the highest good."

Then Śamīka spoke to his disciple named Gauramukha:

"O Gauramukha, go and tell King Parīkṣit

of this curse uttered by my son, of being bitten by the serpent Takṣaka.

Then come back swiftly into my presence, O wise one."

Thus addressed by Śamīka, Gauramukha went to the king,

and approaching, he spoke to King Parīkṣit, the son of Subhadrā's son:

"Seeing the dead snake placed by you upon his father's shoulder,

Śamīka's son Śṛṅgin, filled with fury, cursed you:

'On the seventh day from this day, by the great serpent Takṣaka

may the son of Abhimanyu be bitten and burnt swiftly by poison-fire!'

Thus did Śṛṅgin, that sage's son, curse you, O king.

His father sent me into your presence to tell you this."

Having spoken thus to the king, Gauramukha departed swiftly.

After Gauramukha had gone, the king, overcome with grief,

erected a high pavilion touching the clouds, upon a single pillar, very spacious,

in the midst of the Gaṅgā, that foremost of kings,

with physicians who knew herbs and experts in the great Gāruḍa mantras,

making an effort with concentrated mind to avert the poison of Takṣaka.

Accompanied by many eminent celestial seers, divine seers, and royal seers,

the king, devoted to Viṣṇu, stayed in that lofty pavilion.

At that time, a brahmin named Kāśyapa, the best of mantra-masters,

set out on the seventh day to protect the king from the deadly poison of Takṣaka,

that foremost of brahmins, poor and desirous of wealth.

Meanwhile Takṣaka too arrived, disguised as a brahmin.

Then, seeing Kāśyapa on the way, he spoke to him:

"O brahmin, where are you going today? Tell me, O great sage."

When asked thus, Kāśyapa then said to Takṣaka, O brahmins:

"Today Takṣaka will burn the great king Parīkṣit

with the fire of his poison; I am going into his presence to neutralize it."

To that brahmin who had spoken thus, Takṣaka spoke again:

"I am Takṣaka, O best of brahmins! One bitten by me cannot be cured

even in a hundred years, even with ten thousand potent mantras.

If you now have the power to heal one bitten by me,

then I shall bite this banyan tree,

many yojanas high; you revive it, and then you are indeed capable."

Having spoken thus, Takṣaka then bit that tree.

It was completely reduced to ashes, utterly stunned.

Earlier, a man had climbed that tree;

he too was burnt then by the flames of Takṣaka's poison.

Neither Kāśyapa nor Takṣaka noticed that man.

Then Kāśyapa vowed, while Takṣaka also listened:

"Let all our brahmins now see the power of my mantra!"

Having spoken thus, Kāśyapa, the foremost of mantra-masters,

revived by the power of his mantra that tree that had been reduced to ashes by the poison-fire.

The man was also brought back to life along with that tree.

Then Takṣaka said to Kāśyapa, who was skilled in mantras:

"O brahmin, act in such a way that the sage's word may not prove false!

Whatever wealth the king would give you, double that wealth

I will give. Turn back right now, O best of brahmins!"

Having said this and given him priceless jewels, Takṣaka

turned Kāśyapa back, that brahmin skilled in mantras.

Knowing through his eye of wisdom that the king had but a short span of life, Kāśyapa [departed].

Having obtained jewels from Takṣaka, he went silently to his hermitage.

Then Takṣaka summoned all the serpents at that moment and said:

"Approach that king disguised as sages,

and swiftly offer fruits as gifts to Parīkṣit."

Saying 'So be it,' all those serpents gave fruits to the king.

Then Takṣaka also, into a certain jujube fruit,

entered in the form of a worm and waited to bite the king.

Then the king, having distributed all the fruits offered by the serpents in the form of brahmins

to the elders skilled in mantras, Parīkṣit,

out of curiosity took one large fruit in his hand.

At that moment, the sun sank down toward the sunset mountain.

"Lest the seer's word prove false"—saying thus, the men present there,

all the brahmins as well as the kings, spoke to one another.

While they were all speaking thus, in that fruit was seen—

a red worm in the fruit was examined by the king and all.

"Will this worm bite me today?" said the king,

and placed that fruit with the worm to his ear, O best of the twice-born.

Takṣaka, who had previously remained in that fruit in the form of a worm, then,

coming out swiftly from that fruit, coiled around the king's body.

When the king was entwined by Takṣaka, those standing beside him fled in terror.

Immediately after, O brahmins, by the fiery poison of the mighty Takṣaka,

the king, along with his palace, was swiftly burned to ashes.

Having performed the post-funeral rites of that king, together with the royal chaplain,

the ministers inaugurated his son named Janamejaya on the throne

as king, with the desire to protect the world.

The brahmin named Kāśyapa, who had come to protect the king from Takṣaka,

O best of sages, was reviled by all people.

He wandered through all countries, condemned by all righteous men.

He found no dwelling place, whether in a village or in a hermitage.

Whichever lands he went to, by the prominent people there

he was driven out of each land, and he went to Śākalya for refuge.

Bowing to the sage Śākalya, Kāśyapa, reviled by the people,

made this representation to the great-souled Śākalya:

Kāśyapa said:

"O venerable one, knower of all righteousness, O Śākalya, dear to Hari,

sages, other brahmins, and friends revile me.

I do not know the cause of this: why do people revile me?

Brahmin-murder, drinking liquor, violating the guru's bed,

theft, or the fault of associating [with sinners]—none has ever been committed by me.

Nor indeed have other sins been committed by me, O sage.

Even so, people, relatives, and others revile me in vain.

If you know, O Śākalya, tell me the wrongdoing committed by me."

Thus addressed by Kāśyapa, that great sage named Śākalya

meditated for a moment and spoke to that Kāśyapa, O best of the twice-born:

Śākalya said:

"You set out to protect the great king Parīkṣit from Takṣaka,

but halfway on the road you were turned back by Takṣaka.

Though capable of treating one suffering from poison and other afflictions,

he who does not protect out of greed—they call him a murderer of a brahmin.

Out of anger, lust, fear, greed, malice, or even delusion,

he who does not protect a man afflicted with a disease of poison, O foremost of brahmins,

is a murderer of a brahmin, a liquor-drinker, a thief, and a violator of the guru's bed,

defiled by the sin of association; indeed, there is no expiation for him.

Even for sellers of daughters, and likewise for sellers of horses,

and even for an ungrateful man, an expiation is prescribed in the treatises;

but he who, though capable, does not protect one afflicted with a disease of poison,

no expiation is declared for him, even by ten thousand atonements.

A virtuous person should not eat in the same row with him;

one should not speak with him, nor look upon that man anywhere.

Merely by conversing with him, one becomes a sharer in a great sin."

That great king Parīkṣit was of sacred renown and righteous,

a devotee of Viṣṇu, a great yogin, and a protector of the four castes.

He had heard the tales of Hari with devotion from the son of Vyāsa.

Because you did not protect that king, but turned back at the word of Takṣaka,

therefore you are condemned by eminent brahmins and even by your kinsmen.

Even though that great king Parīkṣit had only a moment left to live,

nevertheless treatment should be administered by the wise until death occurs.

Indeed, as long as the breath remains in the throat of a dying man,

so long should treatment be given, for the course of Time is crooked.

Thus ancient physicians who crossed the ocean of medical knowledge recited a verse:

Therefore, since you did not administer medicine even though capable of treating him,

and turned back midway, by that act you have slain him.

Addressed thus by Śākalya, Kāśyapa replied in turn:

Kāśyapa said:

O one of noble vows, tell me the means to expiate this fault of mine,

so that my kinsmen along with my friends might accept me.

Have mercy on me, O Śākalya, dear to Hari!

Thus addressed by Kāśyapa, Śākalya, the foremost of sages,

meditated for a moment and then compassionately spoke to Kāśyapa:

Śākalya said:

I shall declare to you the means for the pacification of this sin.

You must perform it quickly, O twice-born; do not delay.

At the southern ocean, on the bridge, on Mount Gandhamādana,

there are two sacred fords, O brahmins: Gāyatrī and Sarasvatī.

There, by merely taking a bath, you will immediately become purified.

Men who are touched by the breeze from the waters of Gāyatrī and Sarasvatī,

shaking off all sins, go spotless to heaven.

Therefore, go quickly, O brahmin, to Gāyatrī and Sarasvatī.

Having been spoken to thus by Śākalya, O best of the twice-born,

bowing to sage Śākalya and taking leave of that lord of sages,

and permitted by him, he set forth for Gandhamādana.

Having arrived there at Gāyatrī and Sarasvatī, Kāśyapa,

bowing with devotion to the two sacred fords and to Daṇḍapāṇi Bhairava,

bathed in that sacred ford with proper vows, preceded by a formal intention.

Then, by the mere bath in the pair of sacred fords, Kāśyapa became freed from sin.

He stood for some time on the bank of the pair of sacred fords.

At that time, O lords of sages, Gāyatrī and Sarasvatī

manifested in bodily form, adorned with every ornament.

Having bowed to those two goddesses with devotion, Kāśyapa,

seeing them, with a delighted mind asked: “Who are you two,

endowed with beauty and adorned with every ornament?”

Questioned by him, Gāyatrī and Sarasvatī said to him:

Gāyatrī and Sarasvatī said:

O Kāśyapa, we are indeed Gāyatrī and Sarasvatī, the beloveds of Brahmā.

In the form of this sacred ford, we dwell here eternally.

Because of your bath in this pair of sacred fords, we are now pleased with you.

Choose a boon from us as you desire, O twice-born Kāśyapa.