Ruru and the snake

Chyavan had a son called Pramati. Pramati's son was called Ruru. Ruru got married to the beautiful Pramadvara, who was the daughter of the apsara, Menaka.
One day Pramadvara was bitten by a snake and she died.

Grieving, Ruru went to the forests and cried bitterly. Seeing Ruru cry, the gods sent messengers to find out what had happened and to console him.

The messengers told Ruru, Pramadvara was not destined to live for ever, and she had to die from the bite of a snake. The only way to get her back, if you decide to give half your remaining years to her. Then she could be brought back to life.

Ruru agreed to do so. The messengers then took Ruru to Yama, the God of Death. The messengers told Yama that this son of Pramati had agreed to donate half of his life to his wife so she could be brought back to life.

Yama asked Ruru to go back home. He would find Pramadvara waiting for him.

Ruru was happy to get his wife back. He was now angry at the snakes and decided to kill all the snakes that he came across.
With a stick in his hand, he roamed around looking for and killing snakes.

One day he came across a huge snake, the likes of which he had never seen before. This was the snake called Dundubha. Ruru rushed towards the snake with his snake. Dundubha asked Ruru what harm had he done to Ruru, that he should be thus punished?

Ruru said I have made a promise to kill snakes. I am thinking of who harmed me, or who did not. All snakes are my enemies.

Dundubha said Non Violence was the way of life.

Seeing the snake speak thus, Ruru wanted to know who the snake really was.

The snake said that in his previous life he was the son of a sage. He had a friend called Chitrasen. One day he made a snake from dried leaves and threw that on Chitrasen. Scared and angry, Chitrasen cursed him to become a snake. He also said once Dundubha met Ruru, he would be relieved from the curse.

Ending his story, the snake asked Ruru why he was going around killing living beings. This was not the work of a brahmana. Earlier a snake sacrifice was started by the king Janmajeya, but that was stopped by Astika, a brahman, son of Janmajeya.

Ruru wanted to know the story of Astika. The snake, changing back to his original form, asked Ruru to go to the brahmanas and asked them to tell the tale.

Ruru went home and asked his father about Astika. Pramati said he know about Astika and the tale of Mahabharata and decided to tell his son about the same.