Written by London Swaminathan

swami_48@yahoo.com

Date: 18 June 2019

British Summer Time uploaded in London –  18-1o

Post No. 6567

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UTTANKA was disciple of Veda. He suggested to king Janamejaya to avenge the death of king Parikshit at the hand of Naga chief Takshaka. His  tory is in the Adi Parva and Asvamedhika Parva of Mahabharata.

A brahmin by name Veda had three disciples and one of them was Uttanka. When  Uttanka completed his studies at the Gurukulam, he wanted to give his Master the ‘Guru dakshina’. So before taking leave of him, he asked what fee he might give him for his teaching. The master left the choice of Guru Dakshina (fee for the teacher) to his wife. She asked him to get the earrings of the queen, the consort of King Paushya. Guru’s wife told him to get them within three days so that she can wear it in the festival that is going to take place on the fourth day.

Uttanka on his way saw a huge bull and mounted on it. When he requested the queen to give him the earrings she readily gave them with a warning, “Beware of the Naga Chief Takshaka. He was desperate to get them”.

Uttanka assured her that no one could harm him. On his way he saw a naked ascetic who was visible some time and invisible other time. He thought that there wouldn’t be any danger to the earrings from the ascetic and placed them on the bank of a river and went to perform ablution.

Meanwhile the ascetic drew near him in great speed and ran away with the ear rings. Uttanka  also pursued him with great speed. When Uttanka  caught that person he showed his true form -Takshaka Naga- the Serpent King. Suddenly he went into a hole on the ground and returned to Naga Loka.

When Uttanka  tried to enter the hole, he couldn’t enter it. At last Indra sent his thunder bolt and split it open. Uttanka  went inside and saw huge buildings, palaces and pavlions. etc. After singing lot of praises, he got back the ear rings and gave them to Guru’s wife right on time.

Then Uttanka  went to Hastinapura and met King Janamejaya, He asked the king to do a  Serpent Yajna and kill all the Nagas because Takshaka was the one who bit and killed Parikshit, father of Janamejaya.

In the Asvamedha Parva, Krishna also played a role in the story. May be it is a later addition. But there is some interesting geographical information. This version says that Uttanka  lived in a desert and whenever Krishna came there it rained heavily in the desert. So even today the clouds seen in the desert are called Uttanka clouds!

–subham–