Parikshit builds a protected palace to avert the curse
After learning of the curse, King Parikshit, desperate to defy fate, consults his ministers. He orders a palace built on pillars, surrounded by guards, physicians, and mantra-chanting Brahmanas, creating an impregnable sanctuary.
When Gouramukha departed with his message of doom, King Parikshit was left alone with his anxiety. He immediately summoned his ministers for counsel. The king was wise in strategy himself, but the threat was not an army; it was a curse, set to arrive in seven nights in the form of a snake.
His solution was architectural. He ordered a new palace to be erected — not on the ground, but raised high on pillars. The space beneath would be open, visible, leaving no shadow for a serpent to approach unseen. He commanded that this aerial fortress be guarded day and night by vigilant sentries.
For protection beyond the physical, he surrounded the palace with physicians and stores of every known medicine. More importantly, he stationed there Brahmanas who were skilled in the use of mantras — sacred incantations that could counter poison, charm creatures, and ward off supernatural harm.
Thus protected on all sides — by height, by guards, by science, and by sacred sound — the king continued with his royal duties from within his engineered sanctuary. He would live as a king should, attempting to defy the death that had been predicted for him.