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STORIES · THE MAHĀBHĀRATA · Āśvamedhika
Parikṣit Born Dead and Revived by Kṛṣṇa
Classical
While the Pāṇḍavas are away in the Himalaya, Kṛṣṇa arrives in Hastināpura with the Vṛṣṇis, Balarāma and Subhadrā, at Yudhiṣṭhira's request for the sacrifice. During their stay, Uttarā gives birth. The child, scorched in the womb by Aśvatthāman's brahmāstra, comes out still and lifeless. The city's cry of joy at the birth stops at once.
Kuntī, in tears, meets Kṛṣṇa and begs him to keep his promise. When Aśvatthāman launched the blade of grass as a brahmāstra, Kṛṣṇa had vowed to revive the child if it were born dead. The whole line, she says, depends on this one boy: the funeral offerings of Pāṇḍu, of Abhimanyu and of the family. She reminds him of Abhimanyu's wish that his son be raised among the Vṛṣṇis.
Subhadrā adds that the straw weapon pierced her heart too, and that if Kṛṣṇa does not keep his word she will die. Uttarā, the girl from Virāṭa's house, comes with her hair loose and her body unclothed in her grief and falls at his feet. She says that she wishes she had been killed by the weapon herself, and that she would join Abhimanyu if the child does not live.
Kṛṣṇa says 'So be it' and goes into the birthing room, which is prepared with water jars, white garlands, fires, weapons and aged women to guard against rākṣasas. He touches water and withdraws the brahmāstra. He then swears, on the strength of his truthfulness, his righteousness, his friendship with Arjuna and his killing of Kaṃsa and Keśin, that the child shall live.
The child stirs and begins to breathe. The room fills with light, the rākṣasas run, and a voice from the sky says 'Excellent, Keśava'. The brahmāstra returns to Brahmā. Kṛṣṇa gives gifts and names the infant Parikṣit, because he was born when the line was almost gone. The boy grows, and when he is a month old the Pāṇḍavas return with their treasure. He will be the king bitten by Takṣaka.
Told by Vaiśampāyana → Janamejaya (Parikṣit's own son)
Who: Kṛṣṇa, Uttarā, Kuntī, Subhadrā, Draupadī, Parikṣit, Aśvatthāman
Bound to
Two Brahmashiras and the womb of Uttara origin
Parikshit's curse: the dead snake and Takshaka geneal
Abhimanyu learned the chakravyuha in the womb geneal
Vyāsa's Counsel and the Plan for the Horse-Sacrifice origin
Places: Hastināpura
Where this comes from
- read for this telling · Mahabharata, Ganguli translation (text as scanned on archive.org; mahabharataonline.com section pages could not be opened from the working environment) Ashvamedhika Parva, Sections LXVI-LXX