King Parikshit insults a silent sage by placing a dead snake on him
While hunting, King Parikshit pursues a wounded deer deep into a forest until he is tired and thirsty. He encounters a sage under a vow of silence and, angered by the lack of reply to his question, places a dead snake around the sage's neck with his bow. The act of insult is impulsive, and his remorse is immediate—but the consequence is already set in motion.
King Parikshit of the Kuru lineage was a mighty-armed archer, devoted to hunting like his great-grandfather. One day, he pierced a deer with an arrow and pursued it as it fled deep into a dense forest. He was relentless; never had a deer pierced by Parikshit escaped alive. But this one, though wounded, was soon lost from sight, as if demonstrating the king’s own proximity to heaven.
Parikshit went far in pursuit. He grew tired and thirsty. In the forest, he came upon a hermit seated in a cowshed, drinking the froth that issued from the mouths of calves when they sucked milk. The sage was named Shamika, a man of rigid vows.
Swiftly hurrying to him, his bow raised, the king said, “O Brahmana! I am King Parikshit, the son of Abhimanyu. Have you seen where the deer pierced by me has gone?”
The sage was under a vow of silence. He did not reply.
At this, the king became angry. He looked around, saw a dead snake on the ground, and with the end of his bow, he picked it up and placed it around the sage’s neck.
The hermit looked at him. He did not utter a word, good or bad. He simply sat, bearing the dead creature.
On seeing him in that state—silent, unmoving, enduring the insult—the king’s anger cooled. He was sorry. But the deed was done. Thereupon, he turned and returned to his city, leaving the rishi exactly as he was: silent, with the snake around his shoulders.