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Hinduism - Who Is TakshakaIn Hindu Mythology?

 

A venomous serpent-king that bites King Parikshit and kills him in Hindu legend.

Parikshit is doomed to die of a snakebite within seven days after disrespecting a powerful sage.

Parikshit takes whatever measure he can to avert his fate: He constructs a home on a large plot of land, has all items entering the house thoroughly checked, and surrounds himself with snakebite doctors.

Six days pass without incident, but as the seventh day approaches, people begin to unwind and bring some fruit into the office to eat.

Takshaka had disguised himself as a little worm in one of the fruit pieces and, when the fruit is split open, transforms into his true form, bites the monarch, and kills him.

Despite his terrifying part in this narrative, Takshaka isn't wholly wicked, as shown by a previous story.

Takshaka's mother, Kadru, bets her sister Vinata that the tail of a specific heavenly horse is black, while Vinata believes it is white; the sister agrees that the loser would serve the winner as a servant.

Kadru invites her snake offspring to hang from the horse's back to make it seem black, and thereby gains an unfair advantage.

Some of her offspring, notably Takshaka, refuse to participate in such deception, and Kadru curses Janamjeya, King Parikshit's son, to murder them.

Takshaka manages to avoid the curse—one of the rare occasions in Hindu mythology that this happens—but his brothers are not so fortunate.


~Kiran Atma


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