Devanagari
बाणार्थे भगवान् रुद्र: ससुत: प्रमथैर्वृत: ।
आरुह्य नन्दिवृषभं युयुधे रामकृष्णयो: ॥ ६ ॥
Verse text
bāṇārthe bhagavān rudraḥ
sa-sutaḥ pramathair vṛtaḥ
āruhya nandi-vṛṣabhaṁ
yuyudhe rāma-kṛṣṇayoḥ
Synonyms
bāṇa
—
arthe — for Bāṇa’s sake
;
bhagavān rudraḥ
—
Lord Śiva
;
sa
—
sutaḥ — together with his son (Kārtikeya, the general of the demigods’ army)
;
pramathaiḥ
—
by the Pramathas (mystic sages who always attend Lord Śiva, appearing in a multitude of forms)
;
vṛtaḥ
—
accompanied
;
āruhya
—
riding
;
nandi
—
on Nandi
;
vṛṣabham
—
his bull
;
yuyudhe
—
he fought
;
rāma
—
kṛṣṇayoḥ — with Balarāma and Kṛṣṇa .
Translation
Lord Rudra, accompanied by his son Kārtikeya and the Pramathas, came riding on Nandi, his bull carrier, to fight Balarāma and Kṛṣṇa on Bāṇa’s behalf.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Lord Rudra, accompanied by his son Kārtikeya and the Pramathas, came riding on Nandi, his bull carrier, to fight Balarāma and Kṛṣṇa on Bāṇa's behalf.
KB 10.63.6-7
Lord Śiva was so kind to Bāṇāsura that he personally came as the commander in chief of the military force, assisted by his heroic sons Kārttikeya and Gaṇapati. Nandīśvara, Lord Śiva, seated on his favorite bull, led the fighting against Lord Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. We can simply imagine how fierce the fighting was—Lord Śiva with his valiant sons on one side, and Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and His elder brother, Śrī Balarāmajī, on the other. The fighting was so fierce that those who saw the battle were struck with wonder, and the hairs on their bodies stood up. Lord Śiva was engaged in fighting directly with Lord Kṛṣṇa, Pradyumna was engaged with Kārttikeya, …
Purport
Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī states that the word
bhagavān
is used here to indicate that Lord Śiva is by nature all-knowing and thus well aware of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s greatness. Still, although Śiva knew Lord Kṛṣṇa would defeat him, he joined the battle against Him to demonstrate the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura states that Lord Śiva entered the battle for two reasons: first, to increase Lord Kṛṣṇa’s pleasure and enthusiasm; and second, to demonstrate that the Lord’s incarnation as Kṛṣṇa, although enacting humanlike pastimes, is superior to other
avatāras,
such as Lord Rāmacandra. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī further states in this regard that Yoga-māyā, Lord Kṛṣṇa’s internal potency, bewildered Lord Śiva just as she had bewildered Brahmā. In support of this statement, the
ācārya
cites the phrase
brahma-rudrādi-mohanam
from
Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu.
Of course, Yoga-māyā’s job is to make fine arrangements for the Lord’s pastimes, and thus Śiva became enthusiastic to battle the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Rudra fought on behalf of Banasura just to show Banasura his faults by making him experience suffering. He is addressed as bhagavan to indicate that he was omniscient, and thus he fought to show the greatness of Krsna by being defeated by Krsna. This is the opinion of ancient authorities.
As in the case of Brahma, Yogamaya, instructed by the lila sakti, bewildered Siva and his followers in order to give pleasure and enthusiasm of fighting to the Lord, and in order to show the supremacy and extraordinary qualities of Krsna over all other avataras including Rama, when he appeared performing human pastimes.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Śiva fought on Bāṇa’s behalf to show Bāṇa’s fault of bad association. Another version has bāṇārtham. Śiva, being omniscient (bhagavān), knew Kṛṣṇa’s powers. He fought to show to Bāṇa and others Kṛṣṇa’s powers by his own defeat.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
Śiva had affection for his devotee (bhagavān). Thus he drives away (dra) suffering (rud) of his devotees Thus he fought with Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. Otherwise they would be displeased with him as a devotee.