Ancient Indian Dynasties, Mumbai: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. He also appears as a figure in later legends and traditions, the Mahabharata and the Puranas. [13], Only one Parikshit is mentioned in Vedic literature; however, post-Vedic literature (Mahabharata and Puranas) seems to indicate the existence of two kings by this name, one who lived before the Kurukshetra War was an ancestor to the Pandavas, and one who lived later and was a descendant. An earlier Parikshit is mentioned in Kuru genealogy mentioned in Sambhava Parva, Mahabharata. He suggests that the doubling was eventually "invented by genealogists to account for anachronisms" in the later parts of the Mahabharata, as "a bardic duplication of the same original individual regarding whose exact place in the Kuru genealogy no unanimous tradition had survived," and therefore there "is an intrusion into the genealogical texts" of the late, post-Vedic tradition, which also has two of Parikshit's son Janamejaya. [3], H.C. Raychaudhuri dates Parikshit, his father, in ninth century BC. The Mahabharata, that is, the great Bharata, ... King Janamejaya, the son of Parikshit and grandson of the heroes of the epic, performed a great sacrifice (yajna). Sringin and Samika are seen again in the hunting story that results in Parikshit’s demise. He was also fond of hunting. has just now run to its dwelling.’ The Kuru householder, preparing (grains) for milling, speaks Parikshit (Sanskrit: परीक्षित्, IAST: Parīkṣit[note 1]) was a Kuru king who reigned during the Middle Vedic period (12th-9th centuries BCE). It is quite popular in India, as per social media count more than 1048 people have name Parikshit. Parikshit who was in the womb of Uthara, Abhimanyu’s wife was protected by Krishna using his Sudarsana Chakra. Atharva Veda mentions about Parikshit as the king of the Kurus. He wanted to exterminate the race of Nagas since Takshaka was responsible for the death of his father Parikshit. He was the grandson of great warrior Abhimanyu and the great-grandson of Arjuna, the valiant warrior hero of the Mahābhārata. When Pandavas arrived, Takshaka felt his freedom is seized, with pure anger, he ordered his troops to attack the Pandavas and their subjects. Realm of King Parikṣit.”[7][8], Parikshit is eulogised in a hymn of the Atharvaveda (XX.127.7-10) as a great Kuru king (Kauravya), whose realm flowed with milk and honey and people lived happily in his kingdom. Parikshit was a husband of Queen Madravati and was succeeded by his son Janamejaya. According to the Mahabharata and the Puranas, he succeeded his grand uncle Yudhishthira to the throne of Hastinapur. Parikshit was cursed by Rishi Shamika's son Sringin, to die of Snakebite in seven days, for disrespecting Rishi Shamika. Ancient Indian Dynasties, Mumbai: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, "Prāci-jyotī: Digest of Indological Studies", "Who was Raja Parikshit in Mahabharat and why the story of his death is philosophical", http://ritsin.com/story-raja-parikshit-snake-sacrifice-janmejaya.html/, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Parikshit&oldid=995546685, All Wikipedia articles written in Indian English, Pages using infobox royalty with unknown parameters, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 21 December 2020, at 17:12. Parikshit, the grandson of Arjuna, was first killed in his mother's womb by a Brahmastra (the ultimate weapon/missile) directed towards him by Ashwatthama - the son of Guru Dronacharya - during the Mahabharat war at Kurukshetra. ... A few years after the Mahabharata war, Krishna and the Pandavas depart the earth. He was the son of King Parikshit and Queen Madravati according to the Mahabharata (I.95.85). All of them performed the Asvamedha Yajna (horse sacrifice). He had been cursed by a sage to die so, the curse having been consummated by the serpent-chieftain Takshak. There are also several other kings in the Puranas who were named Parikshit. According to The Mahabharata, Ashvatthama means "the sacred voice which relates to that of a horse". Lord Krishna entered within the womb of Uttara to save her embryo from the attack of Asvatthama’s Brahmastra. Parikshit became heir to the Kuru dynasty and eventually became king of Hastinapur. Mahabharata is a large epic, composed by Vyas.It is divided into eighteen books, and a supplement called Harivansh. One day, a Brahmana named Utanka (whose story is narrated here), came to his court. Since the baby had been protected by Vishnu in his form of Krishna, the brahmanas proposed that he should be named Vishnurata, that is, protected by Vishnu. Ashwatthama is the son of Dronacharya and Kripi. Parikshit is not a popular name in the US as indicated by the popularity charts. And Bhimasena married Kumari, the princess of Kekaya and begat upon her Pratisravas whose son was Pratipa. In this interpretation, Parikshit fathered a firstborn son with an unnamed putrika wife. The Shatapatha Brahmana mentions that he performed an ashvamedha (horse sacrifice), forgetting himself rid of the Brahmahatya (sin associated with the killing of a Brahmin), and the priest who performed it for him was Indrota Daivapa Shaunaka at a place named Āsandīvat. Hence he was named Parikshit. Angom Gopi had also translated Parikshit of the Mahabharata by Gangadas Sen from Bengali. [12] He was succeeded by his son Janamejaya. Uttara was pregnant when Kurukshetra war happened. And Pratipa married … Birth and Life Prior to the War. He was the son of Parikshit and Madravati. अभिमन्यु पुत्र परीक्षित | Abhimanyu son | shree krishna leela | ramanand sagar | mahabharat\\rVaas was the son of King Parikshit Abhimanyu\\rYou must remember that if you read the Mahabharata Abhimanyu was killed by deceit. Uttara was pregnant when Kurukshetra war happened. München : R. Oldenbourg 1997, 27-52. (2007). [21], Parikshit was cursed by Rishi Shamika's son Sringin, to die of Snakebite in seven days, for disrespecting Rishi Shamika. Now, on hearing his father's death by Takshaka, Parikshit's son Janamejaya II vowed to kill Takshaka within a week. The Kurukshetra war took lives but none was heart-wrenching as the death of Abhimanyu – son of Arjuna and Subhadra. [15][16], According to the Shatapatha Brahmana (XIII.5.4), Parikshita had four sons, Janamejaya, Bhimasena, Ugrasena and Śrutasena. The epic was retold by Vaisampayana to Janamejaya at the advice of Vyasa. He was succeeded by his son Janamejaya. [14][note 3], There is no unanimity regarding the father of Parikshit among epics and Puranas. Parikshit was indeed a noble king, pious and virtuous and kept ‘KALI’ of Kaliyuga under control like Modiji controlled corruption till 24 th of March 2020. Albeit the child was Parikshit’s firstborn, he was the son of a putrika and therefore could not succeed his father on the throne as he was to be the heir of his maternal grandfather. Therefore, the mighty son of Abhimanyu came to be called Parikshit (meaning born in an extinct line). https://web.archive.org/web/20100116130453/http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m01/m01096.htm, "Janamejaya's Sarpa Yaga (Snake Sacrifice) | Mahabharata Stories, Summary and Characters from Mahabharata", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Janamejaya&oldid=993234672, All Wikipedia articles written in Indian English, Articles containing Sanskrit-language text, Articles with unsourced statements from April 2016, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from May 2017, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 9 December 2020, at 14:39. This son’s name was Sringin; his maternal grandfather was Samika. And of her was born a son named Parikshit, who took for his wife Suvasa, the daughter of the Vahudas, and begat upon her a son named Bhimasena. [9] He was the grandson of great warrior Abhimanyu and the great-grandson of Arjuna, the valiant warrior hero of the Mahābhārata. Lord Krishna stepped in and extended cover to save Uttara's womb and its fruit from the attack by Ashwatthama. [1] Along with his son and successor Janamejaya, he played a decisive role in the consolidation of the Kuru state, the arrangement of Vedic hymns into collections, and the development of the orthodox srauta ritual, transforming the Kuru realm into the dominant political and cultural center of northern Iron Age India. and A.D. Pusalkar (1962, reprint 2003). The dynasty thrives auspiciously in the Also, Witzel (1995) only refers to one Parikshit and one Janamejaya. - ‘Parikṣit has just now made us peaceful dwelling; darkness This resulted in plea from all the gods to stop the sacrifice. Also, Witzel (1995) only refers to one Parikshit and one Janamejaya. [17], His bodily existence ended due to the curse of a Brahmana, who used the Nāga king, Takshaka, the ruler of Taxila as the instrument of death. Takshaka is the head of snakes, who was residing in Nagaloka without any human disturbance. [10], Michael Witzel dates the Pārikṣita Dynasty of the Kuru Kingdom to the 12th-11th centuries BC. [11] The initial chapters of the epic narrate various aspects of his life including his conquest of Takshasila and about his encounter with Nāga Takshaka. According to the Mahabharata, Parikshit married princess Madravati of the Madra Kingdom, reigned for 24 years, and died at the age of 60, but this is a much later text and cannot be confirmed as historical fact. [22] Parikshit, died after Takshaka king of snakes bit him.[23]. The king received him graciously, and asked him if there was something he could do for him. The son of Parikshit was Janamejaya, who performed the sarpa satra to kill all the snakes in the world to avenge the death of his father. After the Mahabharata war, Drona’s son Aswathama tried to decimate the entire Pandava race to avenge the killing of the Kauravas by the Pandavas in the Kurukshetra war using the most powerful Narayana Astra. The Mahabharata states that it was recited to Janamejaya at the sarpa satra (snake sacrifice) by the sage Vaishampayana to whom it had been imparted by his preceptor Vedavyasa,[12] after he asked Vaishampayana about his ancestors. That day was Shukla Paksha Panchami in the month of Shravan and is since celebrated as the festival of Naga Panchami.[24]. In Mahabharata, Janamejaya was mentioned as having six able brothers viz, Kakshasena, Ugrasena, Chitrasena, Indrasena, Sushena, and Nakhaysena. Historian H. C. Raychaudhuri believes that the second Parikshit's description better corresponds to the Vedic king, whereas the information available about the first is scanty and inconsistent, but Raychaudhuri questions whether there were actually two distinct kings. [7][8], He was the son of King Parikshit and Queen Madravati according to the Mahabharata (I.95.85). Emperor Janamejaya was responsible for the retelling of the famous epic Mahābhārata, a story of Janamejaya's ancestors from the time of Bharata up to the great Kurukshetra war between his great-grandfathers the Pandavas and their paternal cousins the Kauravas. When the Parikship went to forest for hunting, he lost his way and ended up in the ashram of the sage Samika. [11] H.C. Raychaudhuri dates Parikshit in ninth century BC. B. Kölver (ed. [2] Parikshit was a husband of Queen Madravati and was succeeded by his son Janamejaya. It was in this Yajna that the Mahabharata was narrated. He was the successor of Yudhisthira to the throne of Hastinapura. Misra, V.S. Historian H. C. Raychaudh… [2] Along with his father and predecessor Parikshit, he played a decisive role in the consolidation of the Kuru state, the arrangement of Vedic hymns into collections, and the development of the orthodox srauta ritual, transforming the Kuru realm into the dominant political and cultural part of northern India. [2] Parikshit was a husband of Queen Madravati and was succeeded by his son Janamejaya. He was named Parīkṣit, meaning ‘the examiner’, as the Brahmins said he would come to examine all men in his search for the Supreme Lord, whom he saw while still an embryo in his mother’s womb. The widespread attack resulted in the death of many people, or everyone except the Pandavas and their wife Draupadi. (listen to the praise) of Parikṣit! [9], Few other details about his reign are recorded in Vedic literature. Only one Parikshit is mentioned in Vedic literature; however, post-Vedic literature (Mahabharata and Puranas) seems to indicate the existence of two kings by this name, one who lived before the Kurukshetra War was an ancestor to the Pandavas, and one who lived later and was a descendant. A popular local legend is that as a consequence of the virtues of that sacrifice snakes are still harmless in this place and its neighborhood. A thesis based upon Ugrasravas’ narration suggests an alternative interpretation regarding Parikshit’s lineage. King Janamejaya the son of King Parikshit was the king of the Kurus, ruling from Hastinapura. Krishna pacified her and protected the child in the womb from the deadly weapon and thus saved his life. Vaidya P.L. [1] His bodily existence ended due to the curse of a Brahmana, which used the Nāga king, Takshaka, the ruler of Taxila as the instrument of death. 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