यदि वासुकिदूतोऽसि यदि वा वासुकिः स्वयं सचरति सचरति तत्कारी मत्कारी विषनाशिनी विषदूषिणी हतं विषं नष्टं विषं हतमिन्द्रस्य वज्रेण विषं हतं ते ब्रह्मणा विषमिन्द्रस्य वज्रेण स्वाहा यदि वा तक्षकः स्वयं सचरति सचरति तत्कारी मत्कारी विषनाशिनी विषदूषिणी हतं विषं नष्टं विषं हतमिन्द्रस्य वज्रेण विषं हतं ब्रह्मणा विषमिन्द्रस्य वज्रेण स्वाहा
yadi vāsukidūto'si yadi vā vāsukiḥ svayaṃ sacarati sacarati tatkārī matkārī viṣanāśinī viṣadūṣiṇī hataṃ viṣaṃ naṣṭaṃ viṣaṃ hatamindrasya vajreṇa viṣaṃ hataṃ te brahmaṇā viṣamindrasya vajreṇa svāhā yadi vā takṣakaḥ svayaṃ sacarati sacarati tatkārī matkārī viṣanāśinī viṣadūṣiṇī hataṃ viṣaṃ naṣṭaṃ viṣaṃ hatamindrasya vajreṇa viṣaṃ hataṃ brahmaṇā viṣamindrasya vajreṇa svāhā
«If you are the messenger of Vāsuki, or if you are Vāsuki himself… or if you are Takṣaka himself — "moving, moving… poison is slain, poison has perished, slain by the thunderbolt of Indra, slain in you by brahman — svāhā».
f28ff1ae1cd8 · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
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Two are named, and both famous; it is worth saying of each, for their stories are pivotal in Indian literature. Vāsuki is the serpent by whom the ocean was churned. This story stands in the Bhāgavatam (8.6–9) and in the Mahābhārata: gods and asuras wound Vāsuki around Mount Mandara as a rope and pulled it from two ends to win amṛta.
Worth noting is the detail the Vaiṣṇava side always cites: the asuras chose the head, considering the tail demeaning, and got heat and smoke from Vāsuki's mouth; while the gods took the tail and suffered nothing. Its usual conclusion is this: one who chooses the place of honor gets what belongs to the place of honor. Takṣaka is the one who killed King Parīkṣit.
This story is the beginning of the whole Bhāgavatam: Parīkṣit, cursed by a brāhmaṇa boy, learned he would die within seven days from Takṣaka's bite; and, instead of hiding, sat on the bank of the Ganges and began to listen. Śuka told him stories for seven days; and that telling is the Bhāgavatam. That is, Takṣaka's bite is the reason this book exists; and anyone who reads it owes this to the serpent.
Let us add what the Vaiṣṇava side draws from this, and what is, to my mind, the best answer to the whole charm. Parīkṣit did not charm away the poison and did not seek to save his body: he spent his remaining seven days listening. And the Bhāgavatam says of him that he attained what is not attained by a long life; that is, a different outcome is offered than in this book — not to ward off the bite, but to use the time remaining.