He was just a boy when it happened.
Janamejaya — prince of the Kuru bloodline, son of King Parikshit, grandson of Arjuna — never knew his father's face beyond memory. What he remembered clearly… was the day he died.
And it wasn't on a battlefield.
It wasn't by the sword.
It was by a snake.
Not just any snake — but a deadly, cursed serpent named Takshaka.
It had coiled through the royal palace like a whisper of fate. And before the guards could blink, it struck. Its venom did not just kill. It humiliated. It mocked the very power of a kingdom.
King Parikshit — a ruler descended from heroes who had once stood beside gods — was reduced to ash.
Janamejaya never forgot.
Years later, the boy had become king.
Young, fierce, unbending — and haunted.
The court trembled under his voice when he declared:
"We shall burn them all. Every serpent. Every last one."
Thus began the Sarpasatra — the Snake Sacrifice.
He summoned sages, priests, and fire from the heavens itself. A great platform was built. Vedic chants echoed through the air like thunder.
One by one, snakes from every corner of the world — black and gold, scaled and winged — were drawn toward the flames by divine force.
They came unwillingly, screaming in languages only the wind could hear.
They were dying.
And Takshaka — the serpent-king responsible for his father's death — was still out there.
But fate, as always, had plans.
Just as Takshaka's name was being invoked, an old man entered the court.
A storyteller. A bard. A student of Vyasa himself.
His name was Ugrasrava Sauti — son of Lomaharshana, a man who had spent his life learning the deepest truths of the world.
He bowed before the king.
"O great Janamejaya," he said,
"Before this fire consumes everything… let me tell you a tale. A true tale. One that holds all the reasons — all the destinies — that led to this moment."
Janamejaya paused. The fire crackled.
"And what is this tale?" the king asked.
The old man smiled.
"The story of your ancestors. The sons of Pandu. The sons of Dhritarashtra. The story of the war that shattered the world. The story called… Mahabharata."