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INTRODUCTION
End of Parikshit
Once upon a time Parikshit went on a hunting excursion. He got fatigued and felt intense thirst. So he entered the cottage of the sage Samika. The sage was absorbed in meditation and so he was not aware of the presence of the king. Parikshit was very much annoyed that the sage did not treat him with hospitality. Further, he was very much tormented by hunger and thirst. He thought, “This sage is pretending to be absorbed in contemplation in order to avoid the usual courtesies and the ordinary hospitality due to me. He is showing his contempt to me.” Then he picked up with the edge of his bow the carcass of a serpent, threw it as a garland over the neck of the sage and walked away.
The youthful son of the sage, Sringi, who was playing on the bank of the adjoining river with other boys, came to know from some playmate that King Parikshit had put a dead serpent over the neck of his father. He cursed the king and said that the serpent Takshaka should bite him on the seventh day therefrom, for his mischievous and indecent act. The boy then ran to the cottage and saw the serpent on the neck of his father and cried bitterly. The sage was roused by the commotion set by his son. He opened his eyes, threw off the dead snake and asked the boy the cause for his lamentation. The boy told him all that had happened.
The sage was very much afflicted at his curse and said, “O my son, you have been very ignorant and rash. Kings are the embodiment of Lord Vishnu on earth. They protect their subjects through their power, justice and prestige and maintain law and order. If there is no king, there will be anarchy in the land. His duties are difficult and arduous
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