Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c9.3086

c9.3086

Six days went by and on the seventh day Takṣaka reached the palace of Parīkṣit. He found the palace well-guarded and watched. There was no way to go in. Takṣaka then called all his relatives and had them disguised as brahmins. He sent them in with fruits and roots, like people who had come to pay homage to the King. Takṣaka crept into one of the most attractive of the fruits as a tiny worm. The guards at the gate stopped them. The fake brahmins then said that they had come a long way from a far off tapovana and should be allowed to see the King. The information was carried to the King. The King said he would see the brahmins the next day but ordered their gifts to be brought to him. When the fruits and roots were brought to him, he gave a fruit each to the ministers, himself taking the most beautiful fruit of the lot. When he cut the fruit open he saw a worm with two black eyes and a red body sitting inside it and was a bit surprised. Then he addressed his ministers thus : "Oh, best of ministers, by your earnest and sincere endeavour nothing has happened to me till now. The Sun is going to set and the term of the curse is going to end. There is no need to be afraid of any poison now. But let not a curse of a sage go futile. Let this worm bite me and fulfill the curse." So saying the King took the worm and placed it on his neck. The worm changed itself into the fierce Takṣaka and bit the King and the King fell down dead. (12th Skandha, Devī Bhāgavata).