Takshaka

In Hindu mythology, a venomous serpent-king from whose bite King
Parikshit is killed. After insulting a powerful sage, Parikshit is cursed to die of a
snakebite within seven days. Parikshit
takes all possible precautions to avoid
his fate: He builds a house on a huge pillar, has all things entering the house
carefully searched, and surrounds himself with physicians who can cure
snakebite. Six days pass without incident, but as the seventh day ends, people begin to relax and bring in some fruit
to eat. Takshaka has concealed himself
as a tiny worm in one of the pieces of
fruit and, when the fruit is cut open,
changes into his real shape, bites the
king, and kills him.
Despite his fearsome role in this story,
an earlier story illustrates that Takshaka
is not entirely evil. Takshaka’s mother,
Kadru, bets her sister Vinata that the
tail of a certain celestial horse is black,
whereas Vinata claims it is white; the sister agrees that the loser will become a
servant to the winner. Kadru asks her
children, the serpents, to hang from the
back of the horse to make it appear as if
it is black and thus takes unfair advantage. Some of her children, including
Takshaka, refuse to take part in such
deceit, and Kadru curses them to be
killed by Janamjeya, King Parikshit’s
son. Takshaka manages to escape this
curse—one of the few times that this
happens in Hindu mythic stories—but
most of his siblings are not so lucky.