Vasuki, in Distress, Urges His Sister to Send Astika
Vasuki watches in agony as his race is exterminated in the fire. In misery, he turns to his sister, Jaratkaru's wife, and tells her the moment for which he arranged her marriage has arrived: she must send their son, the learned Astika, to save them.
Vasuki became extremely distressed. He saw that many snakes were continuously falling into the fire and only a few remained in his lineage. The supreme among the snakes was miserable with grief.
He told his sister with a grieving heart, “O fortunate one! My limbs are burning. I can no longer see the directions. I am about to fall because I have lost consciousness. My mind is whirling. My sight is failing. My heart is about to burst. Completely numbed, I may fall into the blazing fire without resisting. Parikshit’s son’s sacrifice will go on until he has exterminated our race. It is clear that I must also go to the land of the ancestors.”
Then he delivered the crucial message. “O sister! The time for which I gave you to the sage Jaratkaru has come. O sister! Save us and our race. O supreme among snakes! Astika will stop the sacrifice that is being performed. In earlier times, the grandfather (Brahma) himself told me this.”
He made his plea explicit. “Therefore tell your beloved son, who is learned in the Vedas and respected even by those who are aged, to save me and those who are dependent on me.”