Jaratkaru informs Vasuki she is pregnant with Astika
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.
As soon as her husband Jaratkaru left, the snake-woman Jaratkaru went to her brother. She told him what had happened.
Vasuki, the best of the snakes, heard this unpleasant news. His sister was miserable, but he was more tormented still. He said to her, “O fortunate one! You know what had to be done and why you were given to that sage. A son was supposed to be born for the welfare of the snakes. That valorous one was supposed to have saved us from the snake-sacrifice. The grandfather Brahma and the gods told me this in ancient times. O fortunate one! Have you conceived through that best of sages? I wish that the wise man’s marriage should not be fruitless.”
He acknowledged the delicacy of the question. “Without a doubt, it is not appropriate that I should ask you a question on such a subject. But the subject is too serious for me not to ask you. I know that your husband is always engaged in austerities and is prone to anger. I shall not follow him to ask, because he might curse me. O fortunate one! Tell me what your husband has done and thereby pull out the terrible stake that has been implanted for a long time in my heart.”
Jaratkaru, thus asked, consoled the tormented Vasuki. She said, “I asked the great-souled and great ascetic about our offspring. He said ‘it is there’ and left. I do not recollect his ever having spoken a lie, even in jest. O king! Why should he then utter a lie on such a serious subject? He said, ‘O snake woman! Do not sorrow over the fruit of your action. A son, resplendent as the fire and the sun, will be born to you.’ O brother! Having said this, my husband went away to his hermitage. Let the great distress that preys on your mind be removed.”
On hearing this, Vasuki, the king of snakes, was delighted. He accepted his sister’s words. The terrible stake of anxiety that had been lodged in his heart for so long was finally pulled out.