Astika is born and grows up in the snake kingdom
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 Jaratkaru left, the snake-woman Jaratkaru carried the radiant embryo in her womb. It grew there like the sun, like the moon waxing in the bright fortnight. At the proper time, she gave birth to a son who was like a divine child — the destroyer of the fears of both his father and his mother.
The child grew up in the house of his maternal uncle, Vasuki, the king of snakes. He was carefully watched over and protected. For his education, he studied the Vedas and the Vedangas (auxiliary Vedic sciences) under the sage Chyavana, the son of Bhrigu. Even as a child, he was strict in his adherence to vows, gifted with intelligence, spirituality, and all virtuous qualities.
He became famous in all the worlds by the name of Astika. The name came from his father’s parting word: while the boy was still in the womb, the sage Jaratkaru had gone away to the forest, saying “asti” — “it is there” — in answer to his wife’s question about an heir. The child, embodying that promise, was thus called Astika.
To the great delight of all the snakes, he grew up. He was like the golden and illustrious Lord Shulapani — the three-eyed god Shiva, the lord of the gods. Intelligent, disciplined, and spiritually potent, the boy who was the hope of the serpents matured into a renowned and capable figure, poised to fulfill the destiny for which he was born.