Suta said: "Having said 'so be it,' all the sons of Kadru, skilled in counsel and deliberation, gathered together and made a pact. Some serpents said there: 'Having become bulls among the twice-born (brahmins), we shall entreat that Janamejaya: \"Let your sacrifice not take place.\"' Other serpents, who thought themselves wise, [said]: 'We shall all become his esteemed counselors; he will ask our judgment in every matter, and there we shall give such counsel that the sacrifice be called off. The king, the best of the wise, holding us in high regard, will ask us about the sacrifice, and we shall say plainly, \"No,\" pointing to many dreadful evils -- both hereafter and here -- with arguments and reasons, so that that sacrifice not take place. Or else, whoever becomes the officiating priest at that rite, versed in the ordinance of the serpent sacrifice and devoted to the king's welfare -- let some serpent approach and bite him, and he will die; when the performer of the sacrifice is slain, that rite will not take place. And all the other priests who are versed in that sacrifice, we shall bite as well -- thus the deed will be done.' But other righteous serpents objected: 'This is folly on your part; the killing of a brahmin (brahma-hatya) is not fitting. In adversity, the highest [remedy] is peace rooted in true dharma; and the prevalence of adharma would destroy the whole world.'"