Shloka 1
अकाल पञ्चदशो<् ध्याय: आस्तीकका जन्म तथा मातृशापसे सर्पसत्रमें नष्ट होनेवाले नागवंशकी उनके द्वारा रक्षा सौतिर्वाच मात्रा हि भुजगा: शप्ता: पूर्व ब्रह्मविदां वर । जनमेजयस्य वो यज्ञे धक्ष्यत्यनिलसारथि:,उग्रश्रवाजी कहते हैं--ब्रह्मवेत्ताओंमें श्रेष्ठ शौनक! पूर्वकालमें नागमाता कद्भूने सर्पोको यह शाप दिया था कि तुम्हें जनमेजयके यज्ञमें अग्नि भस्म कर डालेगी
śaunaka uvāca | sūtir uvāca | mātrā hi bhujagāḥ śaptāḥ pūrvaṃ brahmavidāṃ vara | janamejayasya vo yajñe dhakṣyaty anila-sārathiḥ ||
Śaunaka said. Sauti replied: “O best of the knowers of Brahman, long ago the serpents were cursed by their mother: ‘In King Janamejaya’s sacrifice, Agni—driven by the wind—will burn you to ashes.’” The verse sets the moral frame of inherited consequences: a mother’s curse becomes a looming collective fate, soon to be met by human ritual power and the possibility of restraint and protection.
शौनक उवाच
Educational Q&A
Words and intentions—especially a parent’s curse—can set powerful karmic trajectories affecting many. Yet the epic’s larger arc also explores whether dharma allows mitigation through right counsel, compassion, and timely intervention.
The narrator Sauti begins explaining the background of the serpent-sacrifice (sarpasatra): the nāgas had been cursed by their mother that they would be burned in Janamejaya’s yajña, establishing the impending danger that later leads to Āstīka’s role in saving them.