sa tu brahma-ṛṣer aṁse gatāsum uragaṁ ruṣā vinirgacchan dhanuṣkoṭyā nidhāya puram āgataḥ
Synonyms
saḥ—the king; tu—however; brahma-ṛṣeḥ—of the Brahmin sage; aṁse—on shoulder; gatāsum—lifeless; uragam—snake; ruṣā—in anger; vinirgacchan—while going exit; dhanuḥ-koṭyā—by the front part of the bow; nidhāya—by placing it; puram—palace; āgataḥ—returned back.
Translation
The king thus being insulted while going out took up a lifeless snake by the front part of his bow and placed it on the shoulder of the sage in great anger and thus returned back to his palace.
Purport
The king thus treated with the sage in a manner of tit for tat although he was never accustomed to such sily action. By the will of the Lord the king while going away found dead snake in front of him and he thought that the sage had coldly received him and thus he might be rewarded also coldly by offering him a garland of dead snake. In the ordinary course of dealing like that it was not very unnatural but in case of Maharaj Parikshit and also his dealing with a Brahmin sage like this was certainly unprecedential and it so happened by the will of the Lord.