SB 10.59.2 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

श्रीशुक उवाच इन्द्रेण हृतछत्रेण हृतकुण्डलबन्धुना । हृतामराद्रिस्थानेन ज्ञापितो भौमचेष्टितम् । सभार्यो गरुडारूढ: प्राग्ज्योतिषपुरं ययौ ॥ २ ॥ गिरिदुर्गै: शस्‍त्रदुर्गैर्जलाग्‍न्यनिलदुर्गमम् । मुरपाशायुतैर्घोरैर्द‍ृढै: सर्वत आवृतम् ॥ ३ ॥

Verse text

śrī-śuka uvāca indreṇa hṛta-chatreṇa hṛta-kuṇḍala-bandhunā hṛtāmarādri-sthānena jṣāpito bhauma-ceṣṭitam sa-bhāryo garuḍārūḍhaḥ prāg-jyotiṣa-puraṁ yayau giri-durgaiḥ śastra-durgair jalāgny-anila-durgamam mura-pāśāyutair ghorair dṛḍhaiḥ sarvata āvṛtam

Synonyms

śrī — śukaḥ uvāca — Śukadeva Gosvāmī said ; indreṇa — by Lord Indra ; hṛta — chatreṇa — who had suffered the theft of (Varuṇa’s) umbrella ; hṛta — kuṇḍala — the theft of the earrings ; bandhunā — of his relative (his mother, Aditi) ; hṛta — and the theft ; amara — adri — on the mountain of the demigods (Mandara) ; sthānena — of the special location (the recreational area at its peak, known as Maṇi-parvata) ; jṣāpitaḥ — informed ; bhauma — ceṣṭitam — of the activities of Bhauma ; sa — together with ; bhāryaḥ — His wife (Satyabhāmā) ; garuḍa — ārūḍhaḥ — riding on the giant bird Garuḍa ; prāg — jyotiṣa — puram — to the city of Prāgjyotiṣa-pura, Bhauma’s capital (still existing today as Tejpur in Assam) ; yayau — He went ; giri — consisting of mountains ; durgaiḥ — by fortifications ; śastra — consisting of weapons ; durgaiḥ — by fortifications ; jala — of water ; agni — fire ; anila — and wind ; durgamam — made inaccessible by fortifications ; mura — pāśa — by a dangerous wall of cables ; ayutaiḥ — tens of thousands ; ghoraiḥ — fearsome ; dṛḍhaiḥ — and strong ; sarvataḥ — on all sides ; āvṛtam — surrounded .

Translation

Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: After Bhauma had stolen the earrings belonging to Indra’s mother, along with Varuṇa’s umbrella and the demigods’ playground at the peak of Mandara mountain, Indra went to Lord Kṛṣṇa and informed Him of these misdeeds. The Lord, taking His wife Satyabhāmā with Him, then rode on Garuḍa to Prāgyotiṣa-pura, which was surrounded on all sides by fortifications consisting of hills, unmanned weapons, water, fire and wind, and by obstructions of mura-pāśa wire.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: After Bhauma had stolen the earrings belonging to Indra's mother, along with Varuṇa's umbrella and the demigods' playground at the peak of Mandara mountain, Indra went to Lord Kṛṣṇa and informed Him of these misdeeds. The Lord, taking His wife Satyabhāmā with Him, then rode on Garuḍa to Prāgyotiṣa-pura, which was surrounded on all sides by fortifications consisting of hills, unmanned weapons, water, fire and wind, and by obstructions of mura-pāśa wire. KB 10.59.2-3 Generally, the demons are always against the demigods. This demon, Bhaumāsura, having become very powerful, took by force the umbrella from the throne of the demigod Varuṇa. He also took the earrings of Aditi, the mother of the demigods. He conquered the portion of heavenly Mount Meru known as Maṇi-parvata and occupied it. The King of the heavenly planets, Indra, therefore came to Dvārakā to complain about Bhaumāsura before Lord Kṛṣṇa. Hearing this complaint by Indra, the King of heaven, Lord Kṛṣṇa, accompanied by His wife Satyabhāmā, immediately started for the abode of Bhaumāsura. The two of them rode on the back of Garuḍa, who flew them to Prāgjyotiṣa-pura, Bhaumāsura’s capital city. To enter the city of Prāgjyotiṣa-pura was not a very easy task, because it was very well fortified. First of all, there were four strongholds guarding the four directions of the city, which was well protected on all sides by formidable military strength. The next boundary was a water canal all around the city, and in addition the whole city was surrounded by electric wires. The next fortification was of anila, a gaseous substance. After this, there was a network of barbed wire constructed by a demon of the name Mura. The city appeared well protected even in terms of today’s scientific advancements.

Purport

The ācāryas have explained in various plausible ways why Lord Kṛṣṇa took His wife Satyabhāmā with Him. Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī begins by saying that the Lord wanted to give His adventurous wife a novel experience and thus took her to the scene of this extraordinary battle. Also, Lord Kṛṣṇa had once granted the blessing to Bhūmi, the earth-goddess, that He would not kill her demoniac son without her permission. Since Bhūmi is an expansion of Satyabhāmā, the latter could authorize Kṛṣṇa to do the needful with the unusually nasty Bhaumāsura. Finally, Satyabhāmā had been miffed when Nārada Muni brought a celestial pārijāta flower to Queen Rukmiṇī. To pacify Satyabhāmā, Lord Kṛṣṇa had promised her, “I’ll give you a whole tree of these flowers,” and thus the Lord scheduled this procurement of a heavenly tree within His itinerary. Even nowadays devoted husbands take their wives shopping, and thus Lord Kṛṣṇa took Satyabhāmā to the heavenly planets to get a heavenly tree, as well as to retrieve the goods Bhaumāsura had stolen and return them to their rightful owners. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī notes that in the heat of battle Queen Satyabhāmā would naturally become anxious for Lord Kṛṣṇa’s safety and pray for the battle to end. Thus she would readily give permission to Kṛṣṇa to kill the son of her expansion, Bhūmi.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

The umbrella acutally belonged to Varuna, but because of Indra’s superior position among the devatas, the verse mentioned that it was stolen from Indra. Being informed about the activities of Bhauma by Indra, whose umbrella, mother's earrings and jewel mountain were stolen, Krsna went to Bhanuma’ss city with his wife Satyabhama. Krsna had promised to Bhumi that he would not kill her son except with her permission. Satyabhama is non different from Bhumi since Bhumi is her expansion. During the fierce battle Satyabhama would give permission to kill Bhauma, not Bhumi. Krsna took Satyabhama to the battle for this purpose. Satyabhama became angry when Narada brought a parjiata flower for Rukmini. Krsna then promised her that he would bring her a whole tree of parijata. He therefore brought her along, to show her is capacity to take the tree from Indra.

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

It should be understood that Indra went to Dvārakā and informed Kṛṣṇa. Viṣṇu Purāṇa says: dvāravatyāṁ sthite kṛṣṇe śakras tri-bhuvaneśvaraḥ / ājagāmātha maitreya mattairāvata-pṛṣṭhagaḥ // Indra, lord of the three worlds, mounted on intoxicated Airāvata, came to Dvārakā where Kṛṣṇa was staying. Bhauma had also stolen the mountain playground of the devatās, Mandara mountain, with its jeweled peak. Stealing Varuṇa’s umbrella and other acts of Bhauma are also described in Viṣṇu Purāṇa. bhaumo 'yaṁ narako nāma prāgjyotiṣa-pureśvaraḥ / karoti sarva-bhūtānām upaghātam arindama // deva-sidda-surādīnāṁ nṛpāṇāṁ ca janārdana / hṛtvā tu so 'suraḥ kanyā rurudhe nijamandire // chatraṁ yat salila-srāvi ujjahāra pracetasaḥ / mandarasya tathā śṛṅgaṁ hṛtavān maṇi-parvatam // amṛta-srāviṇī divye man mātuḥ kṛṣṇa kuṇḍale / jahāra so 'suro ‘dityā vāñchaty airāvataṁ gajam // Bhauma, also called Naraka, the controller of Pragjyotiṣa, is disturbing all living beings, the devatās, Siddhas, sages, and kings, O lord. He has kidnapped young women and locked them in his palace. He has stolen Varuṇa’s umbrella which flows with water. He has stolen the jeweled peak of Mandara. The demon stole my mother Aditi’s shining earrings which flow with nectar. He desires my elephant Airāvata. He made his request while offering respects on the ground. That is understood from verse 41. Garuḍa arrived just by calling him in his mind or he was in the vicinity ready to serve. Kṛṣṇa mounted Garuḍa with his wife since she wanted to see the excitement of retrieving the goods, and he wanted to present her with the pārijāta tree. Having her accompany him also indicates disregard for Bhauma’s ferocity. ”She will go with me to the battle and then desire the pārijāta tree, which I will bring back. I will derive pleasure when Rukmiṇī desires it. It is not that I desire to fight with Bhauma.” This is how he felt in all the battles with demons. Indra returned to his city. āruhyairāvataṁ nāgaṁ śakro 'pi tridivaṁ yayau / tato jagāma kṛṣṇaś ca paśyatāṁ dvārakaukasām // Mounting Airāvata, Indra returned to Svarga. Kṛṣṇa went to Bhauma’s city while the people of Dvārakā watched. The wind defense was a strong wind whirling around like a potter’s wheel. The various obstacles are here described as the Lord came to them. The order in which he pierced them is described later. The fortress of weapons consists of weapons used as obstacles (not held by warriors) which on begin touched produced injuries on the body. They were terrible (ghoraiḥ) because they were sharp. Viṣṇu Purāṇa describes the city: prāgjyotiṣa-purasyāpi samantācchata-yojanam / ācitā mauravaiḥ pāśaiḥ kṣurāntair dvija-sattama // The city was a hundred yojanas in length and breadth, piled with sharp ropes of the Mura demon. The word mauravaiḥ comes from Mura just as saukara comes from sūkara. The ropes were difficult to cut (dṛḍhaiḥ).