O thou King of kings! Thy father was deprived of life by
Takshaka; therefore do thou avenge thy father's death on that vile serpent.
The time hath come, I think, for the act of vengeance ordained by the
Fates. Go then avenge the death of thy magnanimous father who, being
bitten without cause by that vile serpent, was reduced to five elements
even like a tree stricken by thunder. The wicked Takshaka, vilest of the
serpent race, intoxicated with power committed an unnecessary act when he
bit the King, that god-like father, the protector of the race of royal
saints. Wicked in his deeds, he even caused Kasyapa (the prince of
physicians) to run back when he was coming for the relief of thy father.
It behoveth thee to burn the wicked wretch in the blazing fire of a snake-
sacrifice. O King! Give instant orders for the sacrifice. It is thus thou
canst avenge the death of thy father. And a very great favour shall have
also been shown to me. For by that malignant wretch, O virtuous Prince, my
business also was, on one occasion, obstructed, while proceeding on
account of my preceptor."
Sauti continued, "The monarch, having heard these words, was enraged with
Takshaka. By the speech of Utanka was inflamed the prince, even as the
sacrificial fire with clarified butter. Moved by grief also, in the
presence of Utanka, the prince asked his ministers the particulars of his
father's journey to the regions of the blessed. And when he heard all
about the circumstances of his father's death from the lips of Utanka, he
was overcome with pain and sorrow.
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