One of my favorite Legend from Mahabharata

What is your favorite Indian myth/legend?

First of all, don't consider Indian legendary stories as myths, they are Itihaas (History). I know many of our books are been corrupted during Medieval period but the main and original part remains the same. My favorite legend is the :—

Sarpa Satra

According to legend, Sarpa Satra or Snake sacrifice was a yagyan performed by Emperor Janamejaya of the Kuru empire who had ascended to the throne of Hastinapura upon the death of his father Parikshit. The legend states that Parikshit, the lone descendant of the House of Pandu’s and son of Abhimanyu and grand son of Arjuna of the Mahabharata fame, had died of snakebite. He had been cursed by a sage to die so, the curse having been consummated by the serpent-chieftain Takshaka. Janamejaya bore a deep grudge against the serpents for this act, and thus decided to wipe them out altogether. He attempted this by performing a great Sarpa Satra – a sacrifice that would destroy all living serpents. At that time, a learned sage named Astika, a boy in age, came and intervened to stop the yagna; Astika's mother Manasa devi (daughter of Lord Shiva and Maa Parvati) was a Naga and father was Jaratkaru a saintly Brahmin. Janamejaya had to listen to the words of the learned Astika and set Takshaka free. He also stopped the massacre of the snakes (Nagas) and ended all the enmity with them. After this there was no chaos between the Nagas and Chandravansha kings and leaved with each other in prosperity, peace and harmony.

Historical Significance :-

Because of these things Naagvansham Kshatriyas have migrated from North India to South India due to rise of Chandravansham. Yes because Naagvanshis and Suryavanshis are close relatives and some branches of Naagvansha are sub branches of Suryavansha and Bunts belong to that part of Naagvansha which is a sub branch of Suryavansha. As we know in Tretayuga Lord Rama was the Chakravarti of Indian subcontinent and he belong to the Suryavansha. From the time of King Raghu, rise of Suryavansha started and reached its peak during the time of Lord Rama. But after Lord Rama and Luva Kusha, the power of Suryavansha started declining and this have rise to the Chandravansha Kings. Suryavansha and Naagvansha now were in a continuous conflict with the Chandravansha Kings and due to their (Naagvanshis and Suryavanshis) continuous defeat from Chandravansha Kings many of them were forced to migrate in Southern Region of India. These Naagvansham Kshatriyas, many of them after a long time came to Northern, Central and Eastern India after the Gupta rule and Harshavardhan's rule and others remained in South India. Their descendants might be the Naagvansha clan of Bunts and might be Nairs who too claim to be the Naagvansha Kshatriyas. Many of the Kshatriyas dynasties who came in early Medieval period in North India from South India claimed to be from Suryavanshi (Solar race). This might be another evidence of this Yagyan. As later on this matter of fight between vanshas was finished these all dynasties (Nagas, Surya, Chandra) came together and lived in prosperity, peace and harmony since 5000 years ago. This I am talking on the basis of History and it's refrences are there in Mahabharata and several Puranas.