Suta said: «As the serpents kept ceaselessly falling into the fire, Vasuki, whose retinue had dwindled to a few, was deeply tormented and grieved. And grim confusion overcame Vasuki, lord of the nagas; he, his heart reeling, said this word to his sister: «My limbs are burning, O gracious one, and I cannot tell the directions; I seem to sink in confusion, and my mind seems to reel. My sight wanders greatly, and my heart seems to burst; helpless, I shall fall today into that blazing fire. This sacrifice of the descendant of Parikshit proceeds for our destruction; clearly I too must go to the abode of the king of ancestors (Yama). The hour has come for which you, my sister, were once given to Jaratkaru — save us, then, and our kin. Astika, they say, will stop that ongoing sacrifice, O best among serpents; the Grandfather himself once told me so. Therefore, O child, command your own son, the youth honored by elders — let him now, the foremost knower of the Vedas, act for the sake of saving me and my dependents.»