Tribes in Ancient India c7.60

c7.60

Parīkṣit was learned in the science of the duties of kings, and is credited with having possessed all noble qualities. He is described as a highly intelligent ruler, and a great hero, who wielded a powerful bow, and never missed his aim. One day he was lost in the forest, having been led astray by a deer whom he had struck but failed to kill. While roaming about, he met a sage and asked him whether he had seen a deer running that way. The sage was observing a vow of silence, and did not reply. Angered at this, the king took up a dead snake with the end of his bow, placed it around the sage’s neck, and went away. The son of the sage, hearing of this, cursed the king, saying that within a week he would be reduced to ashes by the bite of Takṣaka, king of the snakes. Hearing of the curse, the sage was sorry, and warned the king; but in spite of elaborate precautions, the curse was fulfilled, and Parīkṣit died of snake-bite.