Jaratkaru

The storyteller Souti begins his narration, weaving together the plight of Jaratkaru’s ancestors, his strange marriage to the snake-woman who shares his name, and the birth of Astika — the sage who would one day stand between fire and annihilation.

The ascetic Jaratkaru roams the earth, unable to find a wife who meets his exacting conditions. In a forest, he begs for a woman, and the snake-king Vasuki appears with an offer: his sister, who is also named Jaratkaru, and whose destiny is to save his race.

The celibate ascetic Jaratkaru discovers his ancestors trapped in a cave, hanging upside down and decaying because he has produced no heir to continue their line. They explain that his austerities are condemning them to oblivion.

The ascetic Jaratkaru, wandering the earth under a vow of extreme austerity, finds his own ancestors hanging upside down in a cave, clinging to a single, fraying strand of grass. They explain they are doomed to fall into hell because Jaratkaru, the last of their line, is celibate and has no son. They give him a message to deliver to himself: he must take a wife and beget an heir to save them.

Growing old and despairing of ever fulfilling his promise to his ancestors, Jaratkaru goes into the forest and shouts his marriage conditions to every creature in the world, begging for a maiden who shares his name and will come to him as unsupported alms.

Jaratkaru, a sage committed to lifelong celibacy, discovers his ancestors are trapped in a hellish limbo because he has no son to perform their rites. Grief-stricken, he makes a vow: he will marry only if he finds a maiden who shares his name, comes to him as alms, and whom he will not have to support.

Vasuki, the snake king who has long awaited this moment, immediately brings his beautifully adorned sister to the forest and offers her as alms to the grieving sage. Jaratkaru, bound by his vow, hesitates and asks for her name.

The snake king Vasuki offers his sister, who shares the sage Jaratkaru's name, to be his wife. Jaratkaru accepts, but sets one unbreakable rule: she must never displease him in word or deed, or he will leave her immediately.

Jaratkaru falls asleep at sunset with his head in his wife's lap, forcing her to choose between his anger and his dharma. She wakes him for his prayers, and he, enraged by the perceived insult, carries out his vow to leave her — despite her pregnancy and her family's desperate need for a son.

After her husband the sage departs, Jaratkaru goes to her brother Vasuki, the anxious king of snakes. He questions her desperately about whether she has conceived the prophesied savior, and her calm reassurance — a single word from her husband — lifts the terrible stake from his heart.

In the house of the snake-king Vasuki, his sister Jaratkaru gives birth to a son who shines like a divine child. Raised and educated among the serpents, the boy Astika grows into an exceptionally intelligent and disciplined youth, becoming the hope of his entire people.

Jaratkaru, the snake woman, calls her son Astika and tells him the time has come for the purpose of her marriage. When Astika asks for the full story, she reveals the ancient curse upon the snakes and the prophecy that he, alone, can save them.