SB 10.44.22 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

नाचलत्तत्प्रहारेण मालाहत इव द्विप: बाह्वोर्निगृह्य चाणूरं बहुशो भ्रामयन् हरि: ॥ २२ ॥ भूपृष्ठे पोथयामास तरसा क्षीणजीवितम् विस्रस्ताकल्पकेशस्रगिन्द्रध्वज इवापतत् ॥ २३ ॥

Verse text

nācalat tat-prahāreṇa mālāhata iva dvipaḥ bāhvor nigṛhya cāṇūraṁ bahuśo bhrāmayan hariḥ bhū-pṛṣṭhe pothayām āsa tarasā kṣīṇa jīvitam visrastākalpa-keśa-srag indra-dhvaja ivāpatat

Synonyms

na acalat — He (Lord Kṛṣṇa) did not move ; tat — prahāreṇa — because of his blows ; mālā — with a garland ; āhata — struck ; iva — as ; dvipaḥ — an elephant ; bāhvoḥ — by the two arms ; nigṛhya — seizing ; cāṇūram — Cāṇūra ; bahuśaḥ — several times ; bhrāmayan — whirling him around ; hariḥ — Lord Kṛṣṇa ; bhū — of the earth ; pṛṣṭhe — onto the surface ; pothayām āsa — hurled ; tarasā — forcefully ; kṣīṇa — becoming lost ; jīvitam — his life ; visrasta — scattered ; ākalpa — his clothing ; keśa — hair ; srak — and flower garland ; indra — dhvajaḥ — a tall festival column ; iva — as if ; apatat — he fell .

Translation

No more shaken by the demon’s mighty blows than an elephant struck with a flower garland, Lord Kṛṣṇa grabbed Cāṇūra by his arms, swung him around several times and hurled him onto the ground with great force. His clothes, hair and garland scattering, the wrestler fell down dead, like a huge festival column collapsing.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

No more shaken by the demon's mighty blows than an elephant struck with a flower garland, Lord Kṛṣṇa grabbed Cāṇūra by his arms, swung him around several times and hurled him onto the ground with great force. His clothes, hair and garland scattering, the wrestler fell down dead, like a huge festival column collapsing. KB 10.44.22-23 … but Lord Kṛṣṇa was not even slightly disturbed, any more than an elephant is when hit by a flower garland. Kṛṣṇa quickly caught the two hands of Cāṇūra and began to wheel him around, and simply by this centrifugal action, Cāṇūra lost his life. Kṛṣṇa then threw him to the ground. Cāṇūra fell just like the flag of Indra, and all his nicely fashioned ornaments were scattered hither and thither.

Purport

Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī explains the words indra-dhvaja as follows: “In Bengal, on the occasion of a certain festival, people erect a tall column in the form of a man and decorate it with flags, banners, etc. He [Cāṇūra] fell just as such a pole might fall.”

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Indradvaja is famous in the eastern states.

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

Though he was the Lord, he began performing actions in order to give joy to his devotees who were suffering. He did not imitate being disturbed at all for obtaining pleasure of his own. Kṛṣṇa remained joyful, undisturbed like and elephant hit by many garlands. Though an elephant may be hit by many garlands, nothing happens to the elephant. Though Kṛṣṇa was struck many times by Cāṇūra with great force, nothing happened to Kṛṣṇa. Hari-vaṁśa describes this: yad ayaṁ bāhu-yuddhaṁ savairaṁ kartum udyataḥ / atra vai nigrahaḥ kāryas toṣayiṣyāmy ahaṁ jagat karūṣeṣu prasūto 'yaṁ cāṇūro nāma nāmataḥ / bāhu-yodhī sarīreṇa karmabhiś cānucintyatām // etena bahavo mallā nipātāntaram hatāḥ / raṅga-pratāpa-kāmena malla-mārgaś ca dūṣitaḥ // ye tu kecit sva-doṣeṇa rājñaḥ paṇḍita-māninaḥ / pratāpārthe hatā mallā malla-hantur vadho hi saḥ // Since Cāṇūra is eager to wrestler with enmity, I must punish him. I will satisfy the world by this. This wrestler called Cāṇūra, born from the descendants of Karūṣa, is famous by his body and actions. It should be known that he has defeated and then killed many wrestlers and spoiled the sport of wrestling by his desire for fame in the arena. Some of the wrestlers have been killed in order to give glory to the foolish king because of his faulty behaviour. Killing the wrestlers was murder. Kṛṣṇa whirled him around many times and in a variety of ways. By the force of throwing him on the ground Cāṇūra died. His life merged into the ākāśa. bhrāmayitvā śata-guṇaṁ daitya-mallam amitrajit / bhūmāv āsphoṭayām āsa gagane gata-jīvitam // Whirling the demonic wrestler around a hundred times he splayed him out on the ground and making his life merge in the sky. He threw Cāṇūra on the ground, shaking him (pothayām āsa), as if giving him up, while saying “He is dead.” The word sa apatat (he fell) should be added to the comparison. He is compared to a flag staff falling because of his great size. Hari-vaṁśa says: dehena tasya mallasya cāṇurasya gatāyusaḥ sanniruddho mahā-raṅgaḥ sa śaileneva lakṣyate The large arena appeared to be obstructed by a mountain with the dead body of Cāṇūra.