The Story Of King Parikshit in English

The Story Of King Parikshit

The sacred book Srimadh Bhagwat Mahapuran is a hymn of knowledge and devotion. It is believed that the person who recites and listens to Srimadh Bhagwat attains happiness in the materialistic world and finally attains salvation.

In the holy book Srimadh Bhagwat Mahapuran, courageous fighter Abhimanyu's son king Parikshit is asking questions and Sage Shukdev, son of Lord Ved Vyas is answering him and calming down his curiosities. The story of King Parikshit is narrated in the eighth chapter of the first wing of Shrimadh Bhagwat.

Sage Shukdev narrating Srimadh Bhagwat mahapuran to king Parikshit

King Parikshit had complete knowledge of Vedas and scriptures. He asked many questions on subtle matters related to the soul, supreme soul and the World from sage Shukdev. The conversation between king Parikshit and sage Shukdev came in front of the World in the form of Srimadh Bhagwat Mahapuran.

Birth of King Parikshit

The Battle of Mahabharata was in its final stage. The Kauravas had been defeated and Duryodhana was lying on the ground in a dying state. Ashvatthama was extremely distressed by watching the condition of Duryodhana. He took a pledge before him that he would bring destruction to the Pandava's and their linage.

Considering the five sons of queen Draupadi as five Pandava's, Ashvatthama killed them in the darkness of the night. Then he reached to Duryodhana to deliver him the news of their demise. It was dawn and Duryodhana was lying dead on the ground. Ashvatthama mourned at Duryodhana's body.

Hearing the wailing sound from the Pandava's camp in the morning, when Ashvatthama saw that Pandava's were alive and he accidentally killed the five sons of queen Draupadi, he became very pleased with his condemnable act.

Searching Ashvatthama, the Pandava's reached the Kaurava's camp. Ashvatthama was deeply disturbed to see the Pandava's with Lord Krishna. He took up the deadly weapon "Brahmastra" and ordered it to kill the Pandavas. Seeing Ashvatthama worshipping Brahmastra, mighty Arjuna also mentioned "Brahmastra".

Ashvatthama and Arjuna using Brahmastra

Watching the two catastrophic forces colliding with each other, Lord Ved Vyasa immediately appeared there and ordered Arjuna and Ashvatthama to return their "Brahmastra". Arjuna returned his "Brahmastra" with the power of mantra's but the method of returning "Brahmastra" to Ashvatthama was not known.

He replied arrogantly, "I cannot kill the Pandava's while you are there, but I will surely destroy their linage." Saying this, Ashvatthama changed the direction of his "Brahmastra" and left it to Devi Uttara, Abhimanyu's pregnant wife.

Lord Krishna became very angry with the act of Ashvatthama, he forcibly took off the divine gem on his forehead and cursed him to wander till the end of Kaliyuga.

Lord Krishna pacified the glory of Brahmastra and protected the infant growing in the womb of Devi Uttara. Lord Krishna said,"Since the child has been tested in the womb itself, he will be known as Parikshit in the World."

Lord Krishna saving Parikshit

Returning to Hastinapur, Yudhishthira ascended the throne. After Yudhishthira became king, there was a wave of joy among all the people. In time, the child Parikshit was born. Child Parikshit was brought up in the palace. The Pandava's made him fully aware of both armamentology and scriptures. He was a great warrior like his father Abhimanyu and grandfather Arjuna.

Parikshit was married to Iravati, the princess of Matsya country. Princess Iravati was the daughter of Prince Uttara, who was martyred in the battle of Mahabharata. Devi Iravati gave birth to four children of Parikshit. His eldest son's name was Janmejaya.

The King Parikshit

Time was changing quickly. Kaliyuga had arrived in the World. Lord Krishna had reached to his folk Vaikunth after completing his incarnation on the Earth. The Pandava's were very upset after Lord Krishna left the world. Yudhishthira did not feel like maintaining the kingdom. In due time, Yudhishthira coronated Parikshit and all the Pandava's moved for heaven with their wife Draupadi.

Pandava's, going to heaven

Parikshit was an invincible warrior. He had conquered the whole Earth. He was always ready for the welfare of his countrymen. He performed many Ashwamedha yagnas on the bank of river Ganga. He had great respect for brahmins and sages.

Emperor Parikshit

Conversation Between The Earth And The Religion

The kingdom of Parikshit was blessed with happiness and prosperity. The influence of Kaliyuga was increasing in the World. There was a steady increase of indulgence, jealousy and ego in the behaviour of people. Parikshit was very concerned about the arrival of Kaliyuga.

Arrival of Kaliyuga

Once king Parikshit was returning to his capital after conquering the war. When his army entered a forest he saw an incredible incident.

He saw a bull standing with only one leg and a cow standing nearby gazing at him. They were talking to each other like human beings. The cow was saying to the bull that they were bound to live in such a miserable condition after Lord Krishna left the Earth.

The Earth and the religion as bull and cow

"As long as Lord Krishna was on this land, all four of your steps penance, mercy, purity and truth were safe but now all three of your legs are broken and you can walk only on the strength of truth. I'm afraid. The terrible Kaliyuga shall break your fourth leg." Saying this, a teardrop flowed out of the eyes of the cow.

The cow and bull were just talking that terrible Kaliyuga came there as a Shudra and started beating them very badly. Both of them were deeply hurt by the beating of Kaliyuga. King Parikshit could not bear it all and immediately came to protect them.

King Parikshit asked the bull, "Your three legs are broken and you can walk on only one leg. I am very sorry to see you. Who are you as a bull? Please introduce yourself?"

The bull spoke like humans, "It has been your clan's tradition to protect the religion. The Pandava's, whose charioteer is Lord Krishna himself, have always been the protectors of the religion. In the era in which the deeds of truth begin to decline, three stages of religion are broken and only one stage remains."

Hearing such sentences from the bull, king Parikshit understood that the true religion is standing in front of him as a bull and the Earth has taken the form of a cow. Both of them are deeply hurt by the arrival of Kaliyuga.

Parikshit assured both of them and said, "I will kill Kaliyuga right now and make both of you fear-free. No sooner Parikshit raised his sword to kill Kaliyuga. At the same time, trembling with fear Kaliyuga came into the shelter of Parikshit and started praying for his protection.

Kaliyuga, in the shelter of King Parikshit

Ensuring The Place Of Stay Of Kaliyuga By Parikshit

Seeing Kaliyuga falling at his feet, king Parikshit felt pity for him and placed his sword in the sheath. He said, "My kingdom is the abode of religion and truth, and you spread enormity, so leave my kingdom at once. By living with you, many kinds of sins will begin to emerge in the minds of the king and the people. Corruption and adultery will be dominated, so go away from my kingdom."

Kaliyuga replied, O king, in the whole World where ever I think of going, I see you holding a bow and arrow in your hands to kill me. So please ensure my place of living."

Hearing the prayer of Kaliyuga, "King Parikshit felt pity and he said, you can reside at places where the four sinful acts- gambling, debauchery, alcoholism and violence prosper because these acts are home to evils like misconception, indulgence, jealousy and cruelty.

Kaliyuga was not satisfied with staying in these four places and he asked for some more places where he could stay. The king said, "you can also live at the place where gold and money are stored."

In this way, five places of residence of Kaliyuga were fixed. After a conversation with king Parikshit, Kaliyuga left his kingdom. Thereafter, Kaliyuga departed and religion once again settled on its four stages of penance, purity, mercy and truth. After assuring the Earth and religion, king Parikshit went to his capital.

Curse To King Parikshit

The kingdom of Parikshit was full of happiness and prosperity. The arrival of Kaliyuga's was predetermined. He had been living on earth after Lord Krishna had renounced the earth. Till now he could not enter the kingdom of King Parikshit. The King had been ruling for 300 years by then.

By destiny, once king Parikshit went to the state treasury. There, he saw the golden crown of Duryodhana. He liked it and wore it. As he wore his crown, Kaliyuga entered his mind. Parikshit decided to hunt and he moved towards the forest. Running after the deers in the forest he went far away from his army and lost the route. He was in very bad condition due to hunger and thirst.

He saw an ashram in the forest and went towards it. There, Sage Shamik was absorbed in deep austerity. King Parikshit had a bad condition due to thirst. Neither he saw any place to sit in that ashram nor he gets any water vessel. The king himself felt very humiliated. Then he saw a dead snake near the sage. He lifted that dead snake from the tip of his bow and placed it on the neck of sage Shamik.

King Parikshit, putting the dead snake around the neck of sage Shamik

At the same time, Shringi, son of sage Shamik Rishi, came there and saw the king putting a snake around his father's neck. He became furious with the act of the king. He warned king Parikshit, "The Brahmins had appointed the Kshatriyas to protect themselves, but you are insulting the Brahmins instead of protecting us. I curse you, O king, on the seventh day from today you'll die due to the bite of the snake Takshak." King Parikshit paid no attention to the words of Shringi and left from there.

The Appearance Of Shrimadh Bhagwat Mahapurana

After coming to the palace, Parikshit was very ashamed of his work. To repent his act, he immediately coronated his son Janmejaya and disguised as a monk and sat on the bank of the river Ganges and kept on fasting till death.

Watching the emperor of the whole Earth sitting on a fast till death, many sages and people began to come there to meet with him. Parikshit highly respected them all.

By God's grace, Lord Shukdev, son of Lord Ved Vyasa, arrived there. All the sages and people bowed down to him. The aura of Lord Shukdev was tremendous. He was adorned like a moon surrounded by stars and constellations in a group of sages and monks.

Sage Shukdev

Parikshit worshipped him and gave him a proper place to sit. Parikshit asked him," Whose chanting, penance, remembrance and recitation should be performed by the creature who is near ingestion of death so that one can get freed from the bondage of life, and attain salvation?"

Parikshit, getting the knowledge from sage Shukdev

Lord Shukdev replied, "I bow to Lord Vishnu, the Lord of the World. By chanting his divine names, even the worst sinner gets free from sins and attains salvation and thus crosses the future bonds of the World. By listening to and reciting his divine stories, a person gets free from the bondage of life and attains salvation. "

Lord Vishnu

Parikshit urged sage Shukdev, "Lord, I want to hear the spiritual stories of Lord Vishnu from your divine voice. At that time, Sage Shukdev narrated many divine stories of Lord Vishnu and the evolution of the World to king Parikshit. The anthology of these divine stories is known as the holy book Shrimadh Bhagwat Mahapurana.

Hearing the religious stories of Lord Vishnu from the divine voice of sage Shukdev, the sins of all the birth of Parikshit were destroyed, he realized the mortalness of the World and attained enlightenment.

According to the curse of sage Shringi, on the seventh day, snake Takshak appeared to bite king Parikshit. On seeing snake Takshak, Parikshit bowed to him and invited him to bite him. When snake Takshak was biting the king, King Parikshit focused his entire attention on Lord Vishnu and thus, attained salvation.

The place where Lord Shukdev narrated the divine story of Shrimadh Bhagwat Mahapurana to king Parikshit is a small town Shukratal located near Muzaffarnagar district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India.

The holy place, Shukra taal

There is an ancient banyan tree and it is believed that sage Shukdev had narrated the divine stories to Parikshit under the same banyan tree. This area is known as the city of temples. There are many magnificent temples which the pilgrims reach from far and wide to visit.

The story of King Parikshit, mentioned in the Shrimadh Bhagwat Mahapurana, is very charming and leads to the path of devotion. Those who recite and listen to Shrimadh Bhagwat Mahapurana every day enjoy all the pleasures of this World and finally attains salvation.

।। OM NAMO NARAYANA।।

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