Shringi Curses Parikshit for Insulting His Father
Shringi, the formidable son of an insulted sage, returns home to learn a king hung a dead snake on his meditating father. His instant, blazing anger crystallizes into a curse: death by snakebite in seven days.
The sage Shamika was under a vow of silence, deep in meditation, when King Parikshit, weak and angry from hunger, placed a dead snake around his shoulders. The sage did not react. He bore the insult without moving.
His son was away. Shringi had been born from a cow and was immensely famous. He was extremely powerful, filled with great energy, and prone to extreme anger. He had gone to worship the god Brahma. When he was given leave to return, he was on his way home when a friend told him the news: King Parikshit had insulted his father. He had hung a dead snake around the shoulders of the great ascetic, and Shamika still bore it, though he had done no injury.
Shringi’s father was not just any sage. He was pure, with control over his senses, a performer of wonderful deeds. His soul was radiant with the power of his austerities. He was perfectly balanced, without avarice, pettiness, or jealousy. He was old, silent, and a refuge for all beings. This was the man the king had insulted.
Shringi’s anger ignited. Though he was still a child, he possessed the radiance that comes with age and the formidable energy of his tapas (austerities). He did not pause to deliberate. Instantly, he touched water—a ritual act to seal his words—and, blazing with energy, he spoke.
“Look at the power of my austerities,” he declared. “An evil one has left a dead snake around my innocent father’s shoulders. Within seven nights from now, the angry and radiant snake Takshaka will burn him down with the energy of his poison.”
The curse was cast. Its mechanism was precise: not Shringi’s own power, but the redirected fury of Takshaka, the king of snakes, would be the instrument.
Shringi then went to where his father was. He told Shamika what he had uttered in anger. The sage, who had sought no retaliation, did not rebuke his son. Instead, he sent a messenger to King Parikshit. The message was a warning, not a threat. “O lord of the earth,” it said. “You have been cursed by my son that Takshaka will burn you down with his poison. O king! Be prepared.”
When Parikshit received this news, he was alarmed. He took every possible precaution against Takshaka, supreme among snakes. He fortified his palace and his person. But the curse, once spoken, had its own momentum.