Devanagari
तदा शुचस्ते प्रमृजामि भद्रे
यद्ब्रह्मबन्धो: शिर आततायिन: ।
गाण्डीवमुक्तैर्विशिखैरुपाहरे
त्वाक्रम्य यत्स्नास्यसि दग्धपुत्रा ॥ १६ ॥
Verse text
tadā śucas te pramṛjāmi bhadre
yad brahma-bandhoḥ śira ātatāyinaḥ
gāṇḍīva-muktair viśikhair upāhare
tvākramya yat snāsyasi dagdha-putrā
Synonyms
tadā
—
at that time only
;
śucaḥ
—
tears in grief
;
te
—
your
;
pramṛjāmi
—
shall wipe away
;
bhadre
—
O gentle lady
;
yat
—
when
;
brahma
—
bandhoḥ — of a degraded brāhmaṇa
;
śiraḥ
—
head
;
ātatāyinaḥ
—
of the aggressor
;
gāṇḍīva
—
muktaiḥ — shot by the bow named Gāṇḍīva
;
viśikhaiḥ
—
by the arrows
;
upāhare
—
shall present to you
;
tvā
—
yourself
;
ākramya
—
riding on it
;
yat
—
which
;
snāsyasi
—
take your bath
;
dagdha
—
putrā — after burning the sons .
Translation
O gentle lady, when I present you with the head of that brāhmaṇa, after beheading him with arrows from my Gāṇḍīva bow, I shall then wipe the tears from your eyes and pacify you. Then, after burning your sons’ bodies, you can take your bath standing on his head.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
O gracious woman! I will remove your sorrows when I bring the head of that lowest brāhmaṇa murderer using arrows released from my Gāṇḍiva bow and when you sit upon it, and bathe yourself after burning the bodies of your sons.
Purport
An enemy who sets fire to the house, administers poison, attacks all of a sudden with deadly weapons, plunders wealth or usurps agricultural fields, or entices one’s wife is called an aggressor. Such an aggressor, though he be a
brāhmaṇa
or a so-called son of a
brāhmaṇa,
has to be punished in all circumstances. When Arjuna promised to behead the aggressor named Aśvatthāmā, he knew well that Aśvatthāmā was the son of a
brāhmaṇa,
but because the so-called
brāhmaṇa
acted like a butcher, he was taken as such, and there was no question of sin in killing such a
brāhmaṇa’s
son who proved to be a villain.
Commentary (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Śucaḥ means sorrows. I will remove your sorrows when (yat) I present to you using the arrows released from my bow the head of the lowest of brāhmaṇas (brahma-bandhoh), the agressor who had a weapon in his hand (ātatāyinaḥ). According to the smṛti scriptures there are six aggressors:
agnido garadaś caiva śastra-pāṇir dhanāpahaḥ |
kṣetra-dārāpahārī ca ṣaḍ ete ātatāyina ||
There are six aggressors: the arsonist, poisoner, holder of weapons, the stealer of wealth, the stealer of property, and the stealer of others’ wives. Vasiṣṭha Smṛti 3.19