Vasuki and Jaratkaru

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.