Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c8.974

c8.974

(ii) Once the son of an old Gautamī was bitten by a snake. A hunter seeing it rushed to kill the serpent but Gautamī objected to it. She advised him that it was a sin to injure any living being. The serpent then said, "It is not my fault that I bit the boy. I was persuaded by the god of death to do so." The god of death Mṛtyudeva also appeared there. He confirmed the snake's statement and added that God had programmed all events beforehand and the boy's death was not due to any mistake on anybody's part. (Śloka 50, Chapter 1, Anuśāsana Parva)