Page:The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (Volume 1).pdf/72

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Sauti said: "And Ruru on hearing those words replied, 'My wife, dear to me as life, was bit by a snake ; upon which, I took. O snake, dreadful vow, viz., that I would kill every snake that I might come across. Therefore shall I smite thee and thou shalt be deprived of life."

"And the Dundubba replied, 'O Brahmana, the snakes that bite man are quite different in type. It behoveth thee not to slay Dundubhas who are serpents only in name. Subject like other serpents to the same calamities but not sharing their good fortune, in woe the same but in joy different, the Dundubhas should not be slain by thee under any misconception.'

Sauti continued :-"And the Rishi Ruru hearing these words of the serpent, and seeing that it was bewildered with fear albeit a snake of the Dundubha species, killed it not. And Ruru, the possessor of the six attributes, comforting the snake addressed it, saying, "Tell me fully, O snake, who art thou thus metamorphosed 7* And the Dundubha replied, O Ruru! I was formerly a Rishi of name Sahasra pat. And it is by the curse of a Brahmana that I have been transformed into a snake. And Ruru asked, 'O thou best of Snakes, for what wast thou cursed by a Brabmana in wrath ? And how long also shall thy form continue so ?"

And so ends the tenth section of the Pauloma Parva of the Adi Parva.

 SECTION XI (Pauloma Parva continued)

Paulo Sauti continued :-"The Dundubha then said, 'In former times. I had a friend Khagama by name. He was impetuous in his speech and possessed of spiritual power by virtue of his austerities. And one day when he was engaged in the Agni-hotra (Fire-sacrifice), I made a mock snake of blades of grass, and in a frolic attempted to frighten him with it. And anon he fell into a swoon. On recovering his senses, that truth-telling and vow-observing ascetic, burning with wrath, exclaimed, --Since thou hast made a powerless mock snake to frighten me, thou shalt be turned even into a venomless serpent thyself by my curse.'-O 