Pariksit Cursed

Chapter 18

Suta Goswami next addresses the fourth question, regarding the renunciation of Maharaja Pariksit and his travelling to the Ganges.

Once, while on a hunting expedition, Maharaja Pariksit felt fatigued, hungry and thirsty. He arrived at the hermitage of Samika Rishi, and when he entered, observed the sage sitting with closed eyes. When Maharaja Pariksit requested some water, the sage, completely absorbed in spiritual trance, failed to respond. Feeling insulted, Maharaja Pariksit picked up a lifeless snake with his bow and angrily placed it on the shoulder of the sage. Since Maharaja Pariksit was an advanced devotee who had control over his mind and senses, his uncharacteristically harsh reaction was clearly the arrangement of the Lord.

When Srngi, the sage’s son, heard of this, he condemned the King as an upstart and impulsively cursed him: “On the seventh day from today a snake-bird will bite the most wretched one of that dynasty [Maharaja Pariksit].” When he found out, Samika Rishi deeply regretted the impetuous reaction of his proud son and prayed to the Lord for forgiveness.