The Mahabharata/Book 1: Adi Parva/Section 15

Section XV. ( Astika Parva continued. )

Sauti said, "O foremost of the Brahm-(truth) knowing Rishis, the mother of the serpents had cursed them of old, saying, 'Agni shall burn ye all in the sacrifice of Janamejaya!' It was to neutralise that curse that the chief of the serpents married his sister to that high-souled and vow-observing Rishi. The Rishi having formally wedded her, begat in her the great Astika, who became an illustrious ascetic, profound in the Vedas and Vedangas, who regarded all with an even eye, and who removed the fears of his parents.

"Then after a long space of time, the king of the Pandava line celebrated a sacrifice known as the Snake sacrifice. After that sacrifice intended for the extermination of the serpents had commenced, the powerful Astika delivered the reptiles,—his brothers and uncles. He delivered his fathers also by raising offspring to himself. And by his austerities, O Brahmana, and by various vows and the study of the Vedas, he became freed from his debts. By sacrifices he propitiated the gods; and by the adoption of the Brahmacharya mode of life he conciliated the Rishis; and by begetting offspring he gratified his ancestors.

"Thus discharging his great debts, and having acquired great merit, Jaratkaru went to heaven with his ancestors, leaving Astika behind. This is the story of Astika, which I have related as I heard it. Now, tell me, O powerful one of the Bhrigu race, what more I am to narrate."

So ends the fifteenth Section in the Astika of the Adi Parva.