And he quickly placed that insect on his
neck. And as the king was smiling, Takshaka, who had (in the form of that
insect) come out of the fruit that had been offered to the king, coiled
himself round the neck of the monarch. And quickly coiling round the
king's neck and uttering a tremendous roar, Takshaka, that lord of snakes,
bit that protector of the earth.'"
SECTION XLIV
(Astika Parva continued)
"Sauti said, 'Then the councillors beholding the king in the coils of
Takshaka, became pale with fear and wept in exceeding grief. And hearing
the roar of Takshaka, the ministers all fled. And as they were flying away
in great grief, they saw Takshaka, the king of snakes, that wonderful
serpent, coursing through the blue sky like a streak of the hue of the
lotus, and looking very much like the vermilion-coloured line on a woman's
crown dividing the dark masses of her hair in the middle.
"And the mansion in which the king was living blazed up with Takshaka's
poison. And the king's councillors, on beholding it, fled away in all
directions. And the king himself fell down, as if struck by lightning.
"And when the king was laid low by Takshaka's poison, his councillors with
the royal priest--a holy Brahmana--performed all his last rites. All the
citizens, assembling together, made the minor son of the deceased monarch
their king. And the people called their new king, that slayer of all
enemies, that hero of the Kuru race, by the name of Janamejaya.
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