Janamejaya was grief-stricken at his father's death. "The snakes will pay for this!" he shouted. "I'll kill them all!"
He convened the brahmin priests of Hastinapura and ordered them to conduct a Sarpa Satra sacrifice which would kill all the snakes of the earth. The priests built a huge bonfire, and they chanted the words that summoned the snakes. Swarms of serpents came slithering across the ground and flying through the air, plunging themselves into the fire where they burned to death in their thousands and millions.
Then a stranger appeared. "Stop!" the young man shouted. "This sacrifice must stop!"
Inspired by: Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata by Devdutt Pattanaik.
Notes: This story is on p. 4.
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