SRIMAD MAHABHARATA - AADI PARVA - AASTIKA (UPA) PARVA - PART 51

"Soota said, 'King Janamejaya having said so, his ministers expressed their approval. The monarch then expressed his determination to perform a Naaga yagna (also called as Sarpa yagna). That lord of the Earth--that tiger of the Bharata race--the son of Parikshit (Janamejaya), then called his priest and Ritwiks. Accomplished in speech, he (Janamejaya) spoke to them these words relating to the accomplishment of his great task. 'I must avenge myself on the wretch Takshaka who killed my father. Tell me what I must do. Do you know any act by which I may cast into the blazing Agni the snake Takshaka with his relatives? I desire to burn that wretch as he burnt, by the fire of his poison, of my old father.'

'The chief priest answered, 'O king, there is a great yagna for you devised by Devas themselves. It is known as the Sarpa Satra (snake sacrifice), and is read of in the Puranas. O king (Janamejaya), you alone can accomplish it, and no one else. Men versed in the Puranas have told us, there is such a yagna.'

"Soota continued, 'Thus addressed, the king (Janamejaya), O excellent one (Rishi Shaunaka), thought Takshaka to be already burnt and thrown into the blazing mouth of Agni, the eater of the sacrificial butter. The king then said to those Brahmanas versed in mantras, 'I shall make preparations for that yagna. Tell me the things that are necessary.' The king's Ritwiks, O excellent Brahmana (Rishi Shaunaka), versed in Vedas and acquainted with the rites of that yagna measured, according to the Shastras, the land for the yagna platform. The platform was decked with valuable articles and with Brahmanas. It was full of precious things and paddy. The Ritwika sat upon it at ease.

"After the yagna platform had been thus constructed according to rule and as desired, they installed the king at the Sarpa Satra for the attainment of its object. Before the commencement of the Sarpa Satra that was to come, there occurred this very important incident alarming obstruction to the yagna. For when the yagna platform was being constructed, a professional builder of great intelligence and well-versed in the knowledge of laying foundations, a Suta by caste, well-acquainted with the Puranas, said, 'The soil upon which and the time at which the measurement for the yagna platform has been made, indicate that this sacrifice will not be completed, a Brahmana becoming the reason thereof.' Hearing this, the king (Janamejaya), before his installation, gave orders to his gate-keepers not to admit anybody without his knowledge."