Devanagari
कृत्यानल: प्रतिहत: स रथाङ्गपाणे-
रस्त्रौजसा स नृप भग्नमुखो निवृत्त: ।
वाराणसीं परिसमेत्य सुदक्षिणं तं
सर्त्विग्जनं समदहत् स्वकृतोऽभिचार: ॥ ४० ॥
Verse text
kṛtyānalaḥ pratihataḥ sa rathānga-pāṇer
astraujasā sa nṛpa bhagna-mukho nivṛttaḥ
vārāṇasīṁ parisametya sudakṣiṇaṁ taṁ
sartvig-janaṁ samadahat sva-kṛto ’bhicāraḥ
Synonyms
kṛtyā
—
produced by mystic power
;
analaḥ
—
the fire
;
pratihataḥ
—
frustrated
;
saḥ
—
he
;
ratha
—
aṅga — pāṇeḥ — of Lord Kṛṣṇa, Who holds the Sudarśana disc in His hand
;
astra
—
of the weapon
;
ojasā
—
by the power
;
saḥ
—
he
;
nṛpa
—
O King
;
bhagna
—
mukhaḥ — turning away
;
nivṛttaḥ
—
having desisted
;
vārānasīm
—
the city of Vārāṇasī
;
parisametya
—
approaching on all sides
;
sudakṣiṇam
—
Sudakṣiṇa
;
tam
—
him
;
sa
—
together with
;
ṛtvik
—
janam — his priests
;
samadahat
—
burned to death
;
sva
—
by himself (Sudakṣiṇa)
;
kṛtaḥ
—
created
;
abhicāraḥ
—
meant for doing violence .
Translation
Frustrated by the power of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s weapon, O King, the fiery creature produced by black magic turned his face away and retreated. Created for violence, the demon then returned to Vārāṇasī, where he surrounded the city and then burned Sudakṣiṇa and his priests to death, even though Sudakṣiṇa was his creator.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Frustrated by the power of Lord Kṛṣṇa's weapon, O King, the fiery creature produced by black magic turned his face away and retreated. Created for violence, the demon then returned to Vārāṇasī, where he surrounded the city and then burned Sudakṣiṇa and his priests to death, even though Sudakṣiṇa was his creator.
KB 10.66.40
In this way, the fiery demon was checked by the Sudarśana cakra of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and, being defeated in his attempt to devastate the city of Dvārakā, he turned back.
Having failed to set fire to Dvārakā, the fiery demon went back to Vārāṇasī, the kingdom of Kāśīrāja. As a result of his return, all the priests who had helped instruct the black art of mantras, along with their employer, Sudakṣiṇa, were burned to ashes by the glaring effulgence of the fiery demon. According to the methods of black art mantras instructed in the tantras, if the mantra fails to kill the enemy, then, because it must kill someone, it kills the original creator. Sudakṣiṇa was the originator, and the priests assisted him; therefore all of them were burned to ashes. This is the way of the demons: the demons create something to kill God, but by the same weapon the demons themselves are killed.
Purport
Śrīla Prabhupāda comments as follows: “Having failed to set fire to Dvārakā, the fiery demon went back to Vārāṇasī, the kingdom of Kāśirāja. As a result of his return, all the priests who had helped instruct the black art of
mantras,
along with their employer, Sudakṣiṇa, were burned into ashes by the glaring effulgence of the fiery demon. According to the methods of black-art
mantras
instructed in the
tantra,
if the
mantra
fails to kill the enemy, then, because it must kill someone, it kills the original creator. Sudakṣiṇa was the originator, and the priests assisted him; therefore all of them were burned to ashes. This is the way of the demons: the demons create something to kill God, but by the same weapon the demons themselves are killed.”
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Kṛṣṇa was the holder of the cakra (rathāṅa-paneḥ). This shows that it was always in his hand. The cakra is thus glorified. The fire turned around and went back to Vārānasī and burned up completely (sam—adahat) Sudakṣiṇa along with the Pramathas, till they were only ashes. The fire was Sudakṣiṇa’s creation (sva-kṛtaḥ). This phrase produces astonishment and bliss.