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Library » Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (Bhāgavata Purāṇa) » Canto 10: The Summum Bonum » CHAPTER FIFTEEN

ŚB 10.15.24

Devanagari

तस्मात् कृतनराहाराद् भीतैर्नृभिरमित्रहन् ।
न सेव्यते पशुगणै: पक्षिसङ्घैर्विवर्जितम् ॥ २४ ॥

Text

tasmāt kṛta-narāhārād
bhītair nṛbhir amitra-han
na sevyate paśu-gaṇaiḥ
pakṣi-saṅghair vivarjitam

Synonyms

tasmāt — of him; kṛta-nara-āhārāt — who has eaten human beings; bhītaiḥ — who are afraid; nṛbhiḥ — by the human beings; amitra-han — O killer of enemies; na sevyate — is not resorted to; paśu-gaṇaiḥ — by the various animals; pakṣi-saṅghaiḥ — by the flocks of birds; vivarjitam — abandoned.

Translation

The demon Dhenuka has eaten men alive, and therefore all people and animals are terrified of going to the Tāla forest. O killer of the enemy, even the birds are afraid to fly there.

Purport

The cowherd boyfriends of Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Balarāma encouraged the two brothers to go at once to the Tāla forest and kill the ass demon. Indeed, here they address the brothers as amitra-han, “killer of the enemy.” The cowherd boys were engaged in ecstatic meditation upon the potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and reasoned thus: “Kṛṣṇa has already killed terrible demons like Baka and Agha, so what is so special about this obnoxious jackass named Dhenuka, who has become public enemy number one in Vṛndāvana?”

The cowherd boys wanted Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma to kill the demons so that all the pious inhabitants of Vṛndāvana could enjoy the fruits in the Tāla forest. Thus they requested the special favor that the ass demons be killed.