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Library » Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (Bhāgavata Purāṇa) » Canto 6: Prescribed Duties for Mankind » CHAPTER NINE

ŚB 6.9.11

Devanagari

हतपुत्रस्ततस्त्वष्टा जुहावेन्द्राय शत्रवे ।
इन्द्रशत्रो विवर्धस्व मा चिरं जहि विद्विषम् ॥ ११ ॥

Text

hata-putras tatas tvaṣṭā
juhāvendrāya śatrave
indra-śatro vivardhasva
mā ciraṁ jahi vidviṣam

Synonyms

hata-putraḥ — who lost his son; tataḥ — thereafter; tvaṣṭā — Tvaṣṭā; juhāva — performed a sacrifice; indrāya — of Indra; śatrave — for creating an enemy; indra-śatro — O enemy of Indra; vivardhasva — increase; mā — not; ciram — after a long time; jahi — kill; vidviṣam — your enemy.

Translation

After Viśvarūpa was killed, his father, Tvaṣṭā, performed ritualistic ceremonies to kill Indra. He offered oblations in the sacrificial fire, saying, “O enemy of Indra, flourish to kill your enemy without delay.”

Purport

There was some defect in Tvaṣṭā’s chanting of the mantra because he chanted it long instead of short, and therefore the meaning changed. Tvaṣṭā intended to chant the word indra-śatro, meaning, “O enemy of Indra.” In this mantra, the word indra is in the possessive case (ṣaṣṭhī), and the word indra-śatro is called a tat-puruṣa compound (tatpuruṣa-samāsa). Unfortunately, instead of chanting the mantra short, Tvaṣṭā chanted it long, and its meaning changed from “the enemy of Indra” to “Indra, who is an enemy.” Consequently instead of an enemy of Indra’s, there emerged the body of Vṛtrāsura, of whom Indra was the enemy.