"Soota said, 'Ruru, on hearing those words, replied, 'O snake, my wife (Pramadvara), dear to me as life, was bit by a snake; upon which, I took, a dreadful vow (Sankalpa in Sanskrit), viz., that I would kill every snake that I might come across. Therefore shall I hit you and you shall be deprived of life.'
"The Dundubha replied, 'O Brahmana (Ruru), the snakes that bite man are quite different in type. It is your duty not to slay Dundubhas who are snake only in name. Subject like other snakes to the same calamities but not sharing their good fortune, in misery the same but in joy different, the Dundubhas should not be slain by you under any misconception. (Dhundubha snakes are non-poisonous snakes, hence it says I am not be slain).'
"Soota continued, 'The Rishi Ruru hearing these words of the snake, and seeing that it was confused with fear, though a snake of the Dundubha species, did not kill it. Ruru, the possessor of the six attributes (Jnana, Bala, Vairagya, Shakti, Veerya and Tejas), comforting the snake addressed it, saying, 'O snake, tell me fully who are you thus changed into different form?'
"The Dundubha replied, 'O Ruru! I was formerly a Rishi by name Sahasrapat. It is by the curse of a Brahmana that I have been transformed into a snake.'
"Ruru asked, 'O you best of snakes, for what were you cursed by a Brahmana in anger? Also, how long will your form (as a Dhundubha snake) continue so?'"
So ends the tenth section of the Pauloma Parva of the Aadi Parva.
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