Utanka incites Janamejaya to perform the snake sacrifice

Utanka arrived in Hastinapura with a fire in his heart. He had a score to settle with Takshaka, the king of the serpents, who had once obstructed him on an errand for his guru. He went straight to the palace and found King Janamejaya seated among his advisers. The king had just returned in triumph from conquering Takshashila, and the court was likely at ease, basking in the glory of a young ruler's first great victory. Utanka offered the formal blessings due to a king. Then he cut straight through the ceremony. "O best of kings!" he said. "You are spending your time in juvenile pursuits, when an important duty urgently demands your attention." Janamejaya, taken aback, saluted the Brahmin respectfully. He replied that he performed the duties of his kshatriya (warrior) birth by looking after his subjects. "Tell me, O king of Brahmanas, what should I do? I am obediently waiting for your words." Thus invited, Utanka unleashed his purpose. "O king of kings! It was Takshaka who performed violence on your father. Therefore, you should take vengeance on that evil-souled serpent." He framed it as destiny's ordained time. He painted the image of Parikshit, Janamejaya's great-souled father, who had caused no offence but had died like a tree struck by lightning, bitten by the serpent. "Drunk with power, Takshaka, worst of the serpent race, committed a crime when he bit your godlike father... The evil one even repulsed Kashyapa." He referred to the sage who had tried to cure Parikshit but was turned back by Takshaka's trickery. Utanka presented the solution: "It is right for you, O king, to burn the evil one in the blazing fire of a snake-sacrifice. Do what is necessary and you will avenge your father." Then he revealed his own stake. "Thus, O king, you will also do me a great favour... It was that evil one who obstructed me when I went on my preceptor’s work." The words landed like kindling on a hidden pyre. Janamejaya’s anger toward Takshaka ignited. As ghee stokes a sacrificial fire, Utanka's offerings of speech inflamed the king. In front of the Brahmin, a sorrow Janamejaya had perhaps buried under conquest and kingship now rose to the surface. He turned to his advisers and asked for the full details of his father's ascent to heaven. As he heard from Utanka himself the precise circumstances of Parikshit's death, the king of kings was overcome with sorrow and grief. The path was set. The juvenile pursuits were over. The only pursuit that mattered now was the sarpa satra — the sacrifice of snakes.