Chaturvarnya Was Not A Caste System

We have seen — how Kadru, mother of serpents, in a moment of rage sharper than fangs, cursed her sons to perish.
Their death — not in battle, not by plague — but in a yajna, where fire would rise, not to bless, but to consume.
The Sarpa Yajna, destined to be performed by Janamejaya, a king born of fire and wrath.

And yet — even as fate gathered wood and ghee — a seed of salvation was already sown.
That seed was Astika — the child of Jaratkaru, born with the glow of mantra, raised in the coils of dharma.
He was born to halt the fire — to stop destruction midway and cradle the Naga Vamsha in his voice.

But why?
Why should Janamejaya — a king, not a madman — wish to obliterate an entire race of serpents?

The answer lies not in cruelty… but revenge.

The king’s father was Parikshit — son of Abhimanyu, grandson of Arjuna.
Born into the stormy silence after Kurukshetra.
A dharmatma — a man who knew dharma, and more importantly, knew how to live it.

Dharma in those days wasn’t theoretical.
It wasn’t a word on a poster.
It was varnashrama dharma — the structure of society itself.

Four varnas, not as labels, but as functions.

• The thinkers — the brahmanas — who planned, taught, remembered.

• The warriors — kshatriyas — who protected, ruled, enforced.

• The creators of wealth — vaishyas — who traded, grew, moved economies.

• The executors — shudras — who ran the great machinery of everyday life.

Like a modern factory —
Where scientists design, security protects, marketers sell, and workers bring it all to life —
The society of dharma, too, thrived on structure, not superiority.

And who maintains that sacred balance?
The king.

Just as today we have:

• Legislature to decide,

• Executive to act,

• Judiciary to ensure fairness —

In those days, the king bore all three — backed not by elections, but by dharma-shastra and smriti.

Parikshit was one such king.
He ruled not with swords, but with understanding.
Not with fear, but with fairness.
None feared him. And none hated him.
Under his gaze, even the lowest-born felt seen.
He cared for widows, for orphans, for the crippled.
And when he wielded the bow, he did so with the training of none other than Kripacharya.

Do you know how he got the name Parikshit?

परिक्षीणेषु कुरुषु सोत्तरायामजीजनत्
When the great Kuru dynasty had faded, when its light was flickering, he was born like a flame on dying embers.

The Mahabharata exalts him — not to flatter, but to warn us:
Do not reduce this king to a single act — the garlanding of a sage with a dead snake.
That was not his essence.

He had only six enemies — kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, matsarya.
And he had conquered them all.

His mind was his subject. His senses were his soldiers.
He ruled himself before he ruled others.

So why did such a noble king die?

That is the next chapter.
But mark this — Janamejaya’s fury was not blind.
It was born of loss.
His father, Parikshit, was killed by Takshaka — king of serpents.
And when dharma collapses under the weight of grief, it often rises again… in the form of a yajna.

Ramaswamy Sastry and Vighnesh Ghanapaathi