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Snakes carry a lot of religious significance (not just in Hinduism but in other religions, too), and in the Mahabharata they specifically symbolize death. The most famous snake in the poem is the serpent king Takshka, who kills the king Parikshit, motivating his son Janamejaya to hold a snake sacrifice (where Vaiśampayana tells Janamejaya the story of his ancestors, including the Kurukshetra war). By holding the snake ceremony, Janamejaya seems to be trying to overcome death itself, killing many snakes to punish them for what they did to his father. The snake goddess Astika, however, intervenes to save some of the snakes, including Takshka.
The interruption of the snake sacrifice suggests that it is futile and perhaps against dharma to oppose death. This theme aligns with Vaiśampayana’s story of the Kurukshetra War, which also suggests that death—while tragic—is inevitable and perhaps even a necessary force to balance the universe. Fittingly, then, when Krishna sees a snake coming out of the mouth of his dead brother Balarama, he doesn’t recoil or grieve but simply accepts it and continues on his journey. The setting of the poem at a snake sacrifice foregrounds the theme of mortality, representing the fact that death is always lurking somewhere—even for great heroes—while also hinting that death is simply a part of nature.
Snakes Quotes in Mahabharata
The Mahabharata quotes below all refer to the symbol of Snakes. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 6. Bhishma
Quotes
Hear, lord of the earth, how those heroes, the Kauravas, Pandavas and Somakas, fought on Kurukshetra, that place of asceticism. The mighty Pandavas came to Kurukshetra with the Somakas and advanced against the Kauravas, for they were eager for victory. Accomplished Vedic scholars all, they revelled in warfare, hoping for victory in combat but prepared for death on the battlefield.
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Chapter 8. Karna
Quotes
‘Karna, if you challenge Arjuna to battle, you are a hare challenging a mighty elephant with tusks like plough-shafts, its temporal glands bursting with rut. If you want to fight the son of Kunti, you are a silly child poking with a stick a deadly poisonous king cobra in its hole, its hood expanded.’
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Chapter 16. The Clubs
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Thinking that he had committed a dreadful crime, he touched his head to Krishna’s feet in distress; but noble Krishna reassured him, even as he soared aloft, filling all heaven and earth with his glory.
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Get the entire Mahabharata LitChart as a printable PDF.
Snakes Symbol Timeline in Mahabharata
The timeline below shows where the symbol Snakes appears in Mahabharata. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1. Beginnings
PAUSHYA. Ugraśravas describes where he first heard the Mahabharata, which was during Janamejaya’s snake sacrifice. The sacrifice is necessary because Janamejaya’s brothers hurt a holy dog, and the dog...
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...the king’s wife to give as a gift to the wife of his teacher. The snake king Takshka steals the earrings, but Uttanka recovers them. Uttanka goes to Janamejaya to help...
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...One of his descendants is a seer named Ruru, whose lover gets killed by a snake. Ruru voluntarily gives up half of his own life span to resurrect her and marry...
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ASTIKA. Now Ugraśravas returns to Janamejaya’s snake sacrifice story. Janamejaya organizes a large sacrifice of many snakes because a snake named Takshka...
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...Krishna Dvaipayana, who is famous for compiling the Vedas) goes to see Janamejaya at the snake sacrifice. At the sacrifice, he tells Janamejaya a brief version of the Mahabharata, but Janamejaya...
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At the snake sacrifice, Janamejaya tells Vaiśampayana that he wants to hear the full account of how the...
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At the snake sacrifice, Janamejaya asks Vaiśampayana to tell more about the deeds of the mortal incarnations of...
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Chapter 3. The Forest
...a total of 10 years in exile. At one point, Bhima gets captured by a snake, but Yudhishthira saves him by asking the snake questions about the nature of consciousness, which...
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Chapter 5. Perseverance
...mortal is good enough as a husband for his daughter, so he goes to the snake realm in the underworld. There, he finds a suitable serpent husband for his daughter. Indra...
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Chapter 8. Karna
...Arjuna’s diadem (a type of crown). Angry, Arjuna fires back an arrow like a venomous snake that cuts through Karna’s shield. Karna fires back, hitting both Arjuna and Krishna, but then...
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Chapter 12. Tranquility
...a story about a Brahmin trying to connect with the universal Self and meeting a snake. The snake told the Brahmin about his experiences serving the Sun. In his journeys with...
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Chapter 15. The Hermitage
...story. Janamejaya is in the middle of his last ritual bath as part of the snake ceremony. Astika, who is there to stop the snake ceremony, also comes and praises Janamejaya.
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Chapter 16. The Clubs
...carnage to go meet Balarama in the forest. When Krishna arrives, however, he sees a snake crawl out of Balarama’s mouth, and Balarama leaves his human body behind. Krishna continues to...
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Chapter 18. The Ascent to Heaven
...to conclude his story. After Janamejaya heard the whole story from Vaiśampayana, he left the snake sacrifice and went back to Hastinapura. Vyasa, who first composed the Bharata tale that Vaiśampayana...
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