Once in the holy forest of Naimisharanya the sages were conducting a 1000 year yagna under the guidance of Sage Shaunaka. The sages present expressed the desire to hear the Bhagavata Purana. Then Shaunaka requested Suta Goswami to narrate the Bhagavata. Suta Goswami was the son of Lomaharshana, who was one the more famous disciples of Veda Vyasa. Suta Goswami did not immediately delve into the story of the Bhagavata but began with the introduction of why Veda Vyasa wrote the Bhagavata and under what circumstances did his son Sukhdev rendered its first public narration. This introduction has come to us as the First Canto of the scripture and is not only very interesting but also very crucial to our understanding of the Bhagavata.
Why Veda Vyasa wrote the Bhagavata has been covered in the article “Veda Vyasa and the Bhagavata Purana”. Suta Goswami then provides the background of King Parikshit to whom Sukhdev narrated the Bhagavata. After Duryodhan lost the Mahabharata War, his friend Ashwathama killed all the sons of the Pandavas so as to wipe out the clan. Arjun’s grandson was in his mother’s womb and Ashwathama sought to kill him as well but Krishna intervened. After Yuddhishthir and the Pandavas retired, Arjun’s grandson Parikshit became emperor of Hastinapura.
Time is divided into four Yugas and it was the period of transition from Dwapar Yuga to Kali Yuga. Kali Yuga was making inroads everywhere. When Kali Yuga reached the boundaries of Parikshit’s kingdom, Parikshit stopped him and ordered him to turn back. Kali Yuga pleaded that he be given some shelter. Parikshit relented and allowed Kali Yuga to stay in the areas where gambling, drinking, prostitution and animal slaughter took place. Kali Yuga begged for one more location and Parikshit granted him permission to stay with gold, because gold is the root of all evil. Kali Yuga immediately made home on the golden crown of Parikshit.
Later Parikshit was on a hunt. He was tired, hungry and thirsty and stepped into the hermitage of Sage Shamika. The sage was deep in meditation and did not respond to the king’s salutations. Kali Yuga sitting on Parikshit’s crown was waiting for this opportunity. He clouded Parikshit’s wisdom and in a fit of anger Parikshit picked up a dead snake and placed it on the sage’s shoulder. Shamika’s son was offended by this vile act. He used his powers to pronounce a curse that the person who had insulted his father would die of snakebite on the seventh day.
When Parikshit heard the curse he accepted it as his due. All the sages assembled before Parikshit, who had given up his royal life style and was sitting on a grass mat awaiting his fate. Though he had accepted that he would die he was still afraid of death. He asked the assembled sages what a person in his situation should do so that he dies without fear and without a troubled mind.
At that moment the sixteen year old sage Sukhdev appeared. The assembly rose and paid obeisance to this saint among sages. After Sukhdev has been suitably seated the king repeated his question. It was then that Sukhdev narrated the Srimad Bhagavata Purana.
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