Devanagari
चैलेन बद्ध्वा तमसाधुकारीणं
सश्मश्रुकेशं प्रवपन् व्यरूपयत् ।
तावन्ममर्दु: परसैन्यमद्भुतं
यदुप्रवीरा नलिनीं यथा गजा: ॥ ३५ ॥
Verse text
cailena baddhvā tam asādhu-kārīṇaṁ
sa-śmaśru-keśaṁ pravapan vyarūpayat
tāvan mamarduḥ para-sainyam adbhutaṁ
yadu-pravīrā nalinīṁ yathā gajāḥ
Synonyms
cailena
—
with a strip of cloth
;
baddhvā
—
tying up
;
tam
—
him
;
asādhu
—
kāriṇam — the evil-doer
;
sa
—
śmaśru — keśam — leaving some of his mustache and hair remaining
;
pravapan
—
by shaving him
;
vyarūpayat
—
made him disfigured
;
tāvat
—
by then
;
mamarduḥ
—
they had crushed
;
para
—
opposing
;
sainyam
—
the army
;
adbhutam
—
extraordinary
;
yadu
—
pravīrāḥ — the heroes of the Yadu dynasty
;
nalinīm
—
a lotus flower
;
yathā
—
as
;
gajāḥ
—
elephants .
Translation
Lord Kṛṣṇa tied up the evil-doer with a strip of cloth. He then proceeded to disfigure Rukmī by comically shaving him, leaving parts of his mustache and hair. By that time the Yadu heroes had crushed the extraordinary army of their opponents, just as elephants crush a lotus flower.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Lord Kṛṣṇa tied up the evil-doer with a strip of cloth. He then proceeded to disfigure Rukmī by comically shaving him, leaving parts of his mustache and hair. By that time the Yadu heroes had crushed the extraordinary army of their opponents, just as elephants crush a lotus flower.
KB 10.54.35
But, at the same time, He wanted to give him some light punishment, so He tied him up with a piece of cloth and snipped at his mustache, beard and hair, keeping some spots here and there.
While Kṛṣṇa was dealing with Rukmī in this way, the soldiers of the Yadu dynasty, commanded by Balarāma Himself, broke the whole strength of Rukmī’s army just as an elephant in a pond discards the feeble stem of a lotus flower. In other words, as an elephant breaks the whole construction of a lotus flower while bathing in a reservoir of water, the military strength of the Yadus broke up Rukmī’s forces.
Purport
Lord Kṛṣṇa used His same sharp sword to give the wicked Rukmī a peculiar haircut.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Thinking, "I should do something so that he cannot come and cause disturbance again" Krsna showed his contempt for Rukmi by marking his body with some ugly features to let him remember his defeat and dissolve his pride. He tied Rukmi’s head cloth around his neck, and holding the two ends of that cloth with his left hand, with his right hand holding a sword, he knocked off Rukmi’s turban and shaved off bits of his moustache, beard and hair at the root, drawing blood, so that here and there bunches of hair remained. In this way Rukmi looked completely disfigured.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
He tied him with a piece cloth which had been bound around Rukmī’s head and with his knife cut his hair and mustache in order to lessen his abusive mentality, which should be punished. He shaved him in an irregular manner so that some of his hair and moustache remained. Sa-śmaśru-keśam acts as a bahuvrīhi compound adverb. This is explained in Śrīdhara Svāmī’s commentary. Or sa can be taken as saḥ (he), meaning Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa (saḥ) disfigured his hair and moustache (śmaśru-keśam). While Rukmī was being defeated, the Yadus defeated his bold armies. Instead of adbhūtam sometimes uddhatam (bold) is seen.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
Kṛṣṇa tore a piece of his cloth and tied up Rukmī. Forcibly he shaved him because he did wicked deeds. While Kṛṣṇa did this, the Yadus defeated his armies. This happened simultaneously. The troops were situated far from the city and were unlimited and proud. Or though they were proud and valorous, the best warriors among the Yadus like Balaṛama crushed them easily. This is illustrated with the example of the elephants crushing a lotus.