Who became king after janamejaya iii was the son of parikshit ii?
Answers
Although there is some ambiguity regarding whether he was the son or grandson, we can safely assume that Parikshita Raja was the posthumous son of Abhimanyu and Uttara, and grandson of Arjuna.
He had 4 sons, Janamejaya, Bhimasena, Ugrasena and Shrutasena, all of whom performed the holy Ashwamedha Yagna.
Parikshita Raja succeeded his great-uncle Yudhisthira to the throne of Hastinapur. He, along with his eldest son Janamejaya Raja, played a key role in the consolidation of the Kuru state, the arrangement of Vedic hymns,into collections, and the development of the orthodox Shrauta ritual, transforming the Kuru realm into the dominant political and cultural center of northern Iron Age India.
His bodily existence ended due to the curse of a Brahmana, for a sin he had committed earlier in his life, by the Naga king Takshaka as an instrument causing his death. The curse was because of a specific mistake he had done.
One day, while travelling through the forest, he became very exhausted and entered the hut of a sage named Samika as he thirsty. But he found the sage in deep medidation. He paid his respects several times but there was no response, since the sage was engrossed in mediation. Frustrated, he took a dead snake and threw it around the sage’s neck. Later, when the sage’s 7 year old son Shringi heard of the incident, he cursed the king to die of a snake bite on the 7th day of the incident. Following the incident, as a penance to the sin, the king handed over the throne to his son Janamejaya and spent the next 7 days listening to the discourses of Bhaagavata Purana by Sage Shukacharya continuously without a break. He began meditating after Shukadeva left at the completion of the discourse, But true to the curse, Takshaka disguised himself as a worm in an apple to get near the king and bit him, when he broke his fast, causing his death, just moments before the end 7 days!
Raja Janamejaya is regarded as the first king of Kaliyuga and it is believed the the story of Mahabharata was first recited to him by Vaishampayana, a disciple of Lord Veda Vyasa.