Devanagari
विप्रुष्मता विषदोर्मिमारुतेनाभिमर्शिता: ।
म्रियन्ते तीरगा यस्य प्राणिन: स्थिरजङ्गमा: ॥ ५ ॥
Verse text
vipruṣmatā viṣadormi-
mārutenābhimarśitāḥ
mriyante tīra-gā yasya
prāṇinaḥ sthira-jaṅgamāḥ
Synonyms
vipruṭ
—
matā — containing droplets of the water
;
viṣa
—
da — poisonous
;
ūrmi
—
(having touched) the waves
;
mārutena
—
by the wind
;
abhimarśitāḥ
—
contacted
;
mriyante
—
would die
;
tīra
—
gāḥ — present upon the shore
;
yasya
—
of which
;
prāṇinaḥ
—
all living entities
;
sthira
—
jaṅgamāḥ — both nonmoving and moving .
Translation
The wind blowing over that deadly lake carried droplets of water to the shore. Simply by coming in contact with that poisonous breeze, all vegetation and creatures on the shore died.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The wind blowing over that deadly lake carried droplets of water to the shore. Simply by coming in contact with that poisonous breeze, all vegetation and creatures on the shore died.
KB 10.16.5
Due to the poisonous effect of the Yamunā’s vapors, the trees and grass near the bank of the Yamunā had all dried up.
Purport
The word
sthira,
“unmoving creatures,” refers to various types of vegetation including trees, and
jaṅgama
refers to moving creatures such as animals, reptiles, birds and insects. Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī has quoted a further description of this lake from the
Śrī Hari-vaṁśa
(
Viṣṇu-parva
11.42, 11.44 and 11.46):
dīrghaṁ yojana-vistāraṁ
dustaraṁ tridaśair api
gambhīram akṣobhya-jalaṁ
niṣkampam iva sāgaram
duḥkhopasarpaṁ tīreṣu
sa-sarpair vipulair bilaiḥ
viṣāraṇi-bhavasyāgner
dhūmena pariveṣṭitam
tṛṇeṣv api patatsv apsu
jvalantam iva tejasā
samantād yojanaṁ sāgraṁ
tīreṣv api durāsadam
“The lake was quite wide — eight miles across at some points — and even the demigods could not cross over it. The water in the lake was very deep and, like the immovable depths of the ocean, could not be agitated. Approaching the lake was difficult, for its shores were covered with holes in which serpents lived. All around the lake was a fog generated by the fire of the serpents’ poison, and this powerful fire would at once burn up every blade of grass that happened to fall into the water. For a distance of eight miles from the lake, the atmosphere was most unpleasant.”
Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī states that by the mystical science of
jala-stambha,
making solid items out of water, Kāliya had built his own city within the lake.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Moving and non moving entities died even upon touching (abhimarsita) the wind which had touched the poisonous waves and was filled with the poison water drops (viprusmata).
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
The wind was filled with drops of poisonous water because the foam and bubbles would rise from the lake quickly at all times because the water was boiling. Thus the wind was burning with poison also. Hari-vaṁśa describes other details.
dīrghaṁ yojana-vistāraṁ dustaraṁ tridaśair api
gambhīram akṣobhya-jalaṁ niṣkampam iva sāgaram
duḥkhopasarpaṁ tīreṣu sa-sarpair vipulair bilaiḥ
viṣāraṇi-bhavasyāgner dhūmena pariveṣṭitam
tṛṇeṣv api patatsv apsu jvalantam iva tejasā
samantād yojanaṁ sāgraṁ tīreṣv api durāsadam
The lake was quite wide—eight miles across at some points—and even the devatās could not cross over it. The water in the lake was very deep and, like the immovable depths of the ocean, could not be agitated. Approaching the lake was difficult, for its shores were covered with holes in which serpents lived. All around the lake was a fog generated by the fire of the serpents’ poison, and this powerful fire would at once burn up every blade of grass that happened to fall into the water. For a distance of eight miles from the lake, the shore could not be approached.
Kāliya lived in a cave in the ground, or within the water, by using powers to stop the water from entering.