So Arjuna, Bhima and others, they took different types of services in the house, palace, of Maharaja Virata. So he was appointed as a dancing master, teacher, to the daughter Uttara. Just see. Arjuna was a great warrior, and he was expert dancing master also. So when it was disclosed that "These servants, they are the Pandavas. They remained here as ordinary servant," so Maharaja Virata was very much pleased, that "Such exalted persons are living in my house incognito." So he offered Uttara to Arjuna, that "You marry my daughter. You have taught her dancing." So Arjuna said, "How can I marry her? I am teacher, and she is my disciple. She is my daughter. How can I marry her?" Then Arjuna said that "If you want to keep this daughter in our family, I have got a grown-up son, sixteen years old." That means Abhimanyu, the son of Subhadra, this Subhadra, Krsna, Balarama, Subhadra. So Subhadra was married to Arjuna, and the son was Abhimanyu. So Uttara was married to Abhimanyu. And the son was Maharaja Pariksit. Abhimanyu was just married and the war was declared.

So Abhimanyu had to go to fight, so he went in fight in the Battlefield of Kuruksetra on behalf of his father. But he never returned. He died there. So Uttara was pregnant and Maharaja Pariksit was within the womb. But the opposite party, they killed. Last killing was five sons of Pandavas. They were sleeping, and Asvatthama, just to satisfy Duryodhana, he killed these sons while they were sleeping, most abominable, and brought the heads to Duryodhana: "Now I have finished the Kuru..." So Duryodhana could understand that "They are not the heads of the Pandavas, but their sons." So out of disappointment that "Our whole family is now finished," he died.

So only Maharaja Pariksit was in the womb of his mother, and that was also attempted to be killed by brahmastra. Brahmastra is almost similar to the atomic weapon. And the brahmastra, the specific function of brahmastra is that when this weapon is released, it will kill the particular men wherever he is; it will go there and kill him. It doesn't matter whether he is in front or in somewhere. The weapon is so powerful that simply by mantra, you release it, and it will kill your enemy, wherever he is. So one brahmastra was released to kill this child, baby within the womb, embryo, to kill. And at that time Uttara felt that her pregnancy is going to be, what is called, discharged. So immediately she approached Krsna, that "I am feeling like that, miscarrying. Please save me." So at that time Krsna entered the womb of Uttara and saved the child from the brahmastra. So Maharaja Pariksit is such a devotee that he was protected from the embryo by Krsna. Therefore Sukadeva Gosvami addressed, maha-paurika(?): "You are great personality." So this Maharaja Pariksit was again cursed by a brahmana. He could retaliate that, but he did not do so, just to offer respect to the brahmanas. He considered himself offender. That is last stage. And because he was cursed by a brahmana at the last stage of his life, seven days, he heard Srimad-Bhagavatam from Sukadeva Gosvami. Therefore we have got this book. This is the story.

So here Maharaja Pariksit, son of Uttara, but he married his maternal uncle's daughter. That was permissible. Still it is permissible. This kind of marriage is considered very aristocratic, to marry the daughter of maternal uncle. So Arjuna also married the daughter of maternal uncle. Kunti is the sister of Vasudeva, Krsna's father, and Subhadra is the daughter of Vasudeva. So he also married. Except in Southern India, this process is now no longer existing. In Bengal and other provinces of India, they do not marry the first cousin. So that is the marriage system. But in southern India, still, to marry the daughter of maternal uncle is considered as very aristocratic. So this system was current five thousand years ago also. So Maharaja Pariksit married his uncle's daughter, uttarasya tanayam. Tanaya means daughter. Uttarasya tanayam upayema. And her name was Iravati, Iravati.

So in that, in the womb of Iravati, Maharaja Pariksit begotten four sons. The first one's name is Janamejaya. Adi. Adi means "beginning with." He begotten four sons, beginning with Janamejaya. The history of Janamejaya is also very nice. (aside:) You can read the Janamejaya paragraph.

So this news was spread, and his son was playing, and as soon as he heard that "My father has been insulted in this way," he became very angry and cursed him immediately, that "This snake or a snake would bite this king and he will die out of snake bite." So... And then again he came to his father. He was crying. The father... At that time the meditation of the father was broken. "Why, my son, you are crying?" "You have been insulted by Maharaja Pariksit. I have cursed him like this." "Oh," he became aston... "Oh, what you have done, wrong thing? You have cursed Maharaja Pariksit? Oh. The greatest blame will be on the brahmana society. The Kali-yuga will begin, begins deterioration of the brahmana community. You are the first." So one thing is that even a child born of a brahmana was so powerful that because he cursed Maharaja Pariksit to die out of snake bite, it could not be withdrawn. He died. Just see how much brahminical power was that time. Even a child. What to speak of grown-up.

So in those days, as in the first verse we learn, dvija-varya-siksaya. The... Actually, the brahmanas, they were controlling the state, but not directly, not sitting on the throne, but giving the kings good advice according to sastra, that "You rule over like this. This is the process." And the kings would abide by... Although the monarchy was there, but they were not irresponsible. First of all, the king was trained and educated perfectly. Therefore it is called dvija-varya-siksaya. Yesterday I explained, dvija, the twice-born brahmana. And again it is added with another word, varya. Varya means the first class, not third class. First-class man, dvija-varya-siksaya, they used to teach. They used to advise. And if the king was worthless, sometimes they would kill the king. And next son, his son would take possession.

That was done in the case of Maharaja Vena. Maharaja Vena, he was upstart. He was born of a low-class mother, so he become so upstart that in his boyhood he was playing with friends, and if there was some quarrel, he would kill such friend. So his father became so disgusted, tried to reform him in so many ways, but he could not be reformed. The father, Maharaja Anga, he left the kingdom all of a sudden, being disgusted. Then the brahmanas asked the king that "You are not ruling very nicely. You have stopped all religious functions. This is not good for the people, neither for you." They first of all tried to pacify him by nice instruction. But the king said, "You brahmanas, you do not know me very well. I am God" and this and that. Then he was killed by the brahmanas. You know that Jamadagnya, Parasurama, when he saw that the kings were not responsible, he killed the whole ksatriya family for twenty-one times. So that was the government. If the brahmanas would see that the ksatriyas, the kings were not ruling properly according to the Vedic principle, sometimes they would kill the king.

So Maharaja Pariksit was also killed, but not for his fault. There was, of course, little fault, that he took a... That is Krsna's arrangement. He was to go, leave this world, so that Bhagavata may be spoken, and people would derive benefit out of it. Otherwise Maharaja Pariksit could retaliate. He was so powerful devotee. But he did not. So go on reading.