King Janamejaya's snake sacrifice

When Janamejaya became king, he wanted to avenge the death of his father at the hands of a Naga prince .

Janamejaya gathered about him all the brahmanas of his kingdom and proceeded to chant mantras to bring the Naga prince, Takshaka, in their midst. Takshaka felt the power of the mantras and being scared, he ran to Indra and sought Indra's protection. Indra, the god of thunder and the king of the gods, extended his protection to Takshaka. None of the brahmanas' mantras had any effect on the Naga prince.

Things then took a fateful turn. Astika, who was born of a man and a Naga woman, came to the snake sacrifice and seeing what was happening, explained to Janamejaya that Takshaka was safe under Indra's protection. Janamejaya was extremely pleased to have gotten this valuable information. The king granted Astika that he could ask whatever he pleased but Astika, instead of asking for gold or silver, merely said that he would ask for what he wanted when the time was right.

Armed with the new information, the brahmanas now began to invoke mantras both for Indra and for Takshaka. Indra angrily came down to earth and prepared to smite the brahmanas but while he was occupied with the brahmanas, his protection over Takshaka weakened and the brahmanas managed to pull Takshaka towards them. His purpose defeated, Indra went away. Takshaka however hovered dangerously over the sacrificial fire.

At this moment, Astika requested that the king honor his promise and grant him Takshaka's life. ``Ask for any thing else,'' Janamejaya begged, ``but ask not for the life of the man who killed my father.''

Astika refused, saying that he was half-Naga and that Takshaka was of his own blood. Finally, Janamejaya relented and made his peace with Takshaka.

``Let there be peace,'' Janamejaya, ``between the Nagas and us, for all my people.''

``It will be so,'' said Astika, ``for your people.''