Takshaka steals earrings from Uttanaka

The sage Uttanka in a river while the snake king steals the earrings

Uttanka asks the king Saudasa who was cursed by Vasistha to become a cannibal for earrings without any fear and manages to receive it from his wife Madayanti, who before giving it to him warns that the earrings are celestial, and that he should not by any means put it heedlessly. If he were to do so it would be stolen by higher beings who are always looking for a chance to have them. During his return, from hunger he tries to pluck fruits from a tree and drops those earrings and a Nagas (serpents) steal the earrings, and later the gods Indra and Agni help Uttanka to retrieve them from the realm of the serpents. Uttanka is said to have advised King Janamejaya to take revenge against Takshaka, the king of the Nagas, as the latter was responsible for his father Parikshit’s death by snake bite.

Medium: paper and gouache paint