’Sauti continued, ’King Janamejaya, that chastiser of enemies, then spake upto all his ministers.  And he said, ’When did ye learn all that happened upon that, banian reduced to ashes by Takshaka, and which, wonderful as it is, was afterwards revived by Kasyapa?  Assuredly, my father could not have died, for the poison could have been neutralised by Kasyapa with his mantras.  That worst of snakes, of sinful soul, thought within his mind that if Kasyapa resuscitated the king bit by him, he, Takshaka, would be an object of ridicule in the world owing to the neutralisation of his poison.  Assuredly, having thought so, he pacified the Brahmana.  I have devised a way, however, of inflicting punishment upon him.  I like to know, however, what ye saw or heard, what happened in the deep solitude of the forest,—­viz., the words of Takshaka and the speeches of Kasyapa.  Having known it, I shall devise the means of exterminating the snake race.’

“The ministers said, ’Hear, O monarch of him who told us before of the meeting between that foremost Brahmana and that prince of snakes in the woods.  A certain person, O monarch, had climbed up that tree containing some dry branches with the object of breaking them for sacrificial fuel.  He was not perceived either by the snake or by the Brahmana.  And, O king, that man was reduced to ashes along with the tree itself.  And, O king of kings, he was revived with the tree by the power of the Brahmana.  That man, a Brahmana’s menial, having come to us, represented fully everything as it happened between Takshaka and the Brahmana.  Thus have we told thee, O king, all that we have seen and heard.  And having heard it, O tiger among kings, ordain that which should follow.’

“Sauti continued, ’King Janamejaya, having listened to the words of his ministers, was sorely afflicted with grief, and began to weep.  And the monarch began to squeeze his hands.  And the lotus-eyed king began to breathe a long and hot breath, shed tears, and shrieked aloud.  And possessed with grief and sorrow, and shedding copious tears, and touching water according to the form, the monarch spake.  And reflecting for a moment, as if settling something in his mind, the angry monarch, addressing all ministers, said these words.

’I have heard your account of my father’s ascension to heaven.  Know ye now what my fixed resolve is.  I think no time must be lost in avenging this injury upon the wretch Takshaka that killed my father.  He burnt my father making Sringin only a secondary cause.  From malignity alone he made Kasyapa return.  If that Brahmana had arrived, my father assuredly would have lived.  What would he have lost if the king had revived by the grace of Kasyapa and the precautionary measures of his ministers?  From ignorance of the effects of my wrath, he prevented Kasyapa—­that excellent of Brahmanas—­whom he could not defeat, from coming to my father with the desire of reviving him.  The act of aggression is great on the part of the wretch Takshaka who gave wealth unto that Brahmana in order that he might not revive the king.  I must now avenge myself on my father’s enemy to please myself, the Rishi Utanka and you all.’”