Chyavana had a son by name Pramati and Pramati had a son by name Ruru.

There was a saint by name Sthulakesha. Once, a newborn female baby was left outs
ide his hermitage by Menaka, the celestial dancer. This child was the result of
Menaka's secret intimacy with the Gandharva King Vishwavashu. Menaka was forced
to abandon the child due to a sense of shame.
Sage Sthulakesha brought her up. He gave her the name Pramadvara.
Ruru happened to see Pradamvara and fell in love with her. He conveyed his desir
e to his father Pramati who took up the matter with Sage Sthulakesha. The marria
ge was agreed upon and a date was also fixed. However, before the marriage could
take place, Pradamvara inadvertently stepped on a serpent which bit her. Pradam
vara succumbed to the serpent's bite.
When Ruru was lamenting his fiancee's death, he heard a message from the heavens
that said he could restore Pradamvara to life by offering a part of his life sp
an to her. Ruru instantly agreed to this. The celestial messenger and the Gandha
rva King who was Pradamvara's father appealed to Yama, the God of death to give
a new lease of life to Pradamvara by taking away a part of the lifespan of Ruru.
Pradamvara was thus brought back to life and the marriage was performed on the d
ate fixed earlier. Unable to stomach the fact that Pradamvara was bitten by a se
rpent, Ruru developed a deep sense of antagonism and anger towards the serpent r
ace. Whenever he saw a serpent, he would kill it using a weapon.
Once when he was about to kill a snake belonging to the Dundubha species, the sn
ake asked him why he had to be killed when he had not committed any offense towa
rds Ruru. Ruru then explained that since a serpent had bitten his wife, he was d
etermined to kill all snakes. The snake said that all snakes were not alike and
that the snakes belonging to the Dundubha race were harmless.
Observing that the snake was gripped by fear, Ruru asked the snake, "You don't a
ppear to be a snake. Who are you?"
The serpent replied, "Formerly, I was a Rishi (sage) by name Sahasrapat. I was t
ransformed into a serpent due to the curse of a brahmin."
Prompted by Ruru, the sage-turned-serpent narrated his story. "I had a friend by
name Khagama. He had developed spiritual powers by practice of severe austerity
. But he was impetuous by nature. One day, when he was doing Agnihotra (fire sac
rifice), I made a snake using grass blades and threw it on him just to frighten
him He swooned, out of shock and fear. Once he regained consciousness, he curse
d me to become a snake. I told him that I had only played a joke on him just for
fun and pleaded with him to pardon me and revoke his curse. He said 'A curse on
ce given can't be revoked. I can only mitigate its effect. You will be freed fro
m this curse when Ruru, the son of Pramati appears before you.' And his words h
ave come true with your appearance before me and I am now relieved of the curse"
Instantly, the serpent was transformed back to his original form of a sage. He t
hanked Ruru, blessed him and said "A brahmin should be well versed in the Vedas.
He has a sacred duty of inspiring all creatures with faith in God. He should be
kind, benevolent, truthful and forgiving. He should not take away the life of a
ny creature. Nor should he be harsh towards anyone. These are the injunctions of
the Vedas. A kshatriya (one belonging to the warrior sect) should, on the other
hand, be stern and should weild the sword."
He then narrated the story of the destruction of the snakes in the Sarpa Yaga (a
ritual for destroying the snakes) performed by King Janamejaya, a descendant of
the Pandavas to avenge the killing of his father Parikshit by a serpent and how

the serpent race was saved from decimation by Sage Astika.