Devanagari
अहं प्रजा: वां भगवन् रक्षिष्ये दीनयोरिह ।
अनिस्तीर्णप्रतिज्ञोऽग्निं प्रवेक्ष्ये हतकल्मष: ॥ २९ ॥
Verse text
ahaṁ prajāḥ vāṁ bhagavan
rakṣiṣye dīnayor iha
anistīrṇa-pratijṣo ’gniṁ
pravekṣye hata-kalmaṣaḥ
Synonyms
aham
—
I
;
prajāḥ
—
the offspring
;
vām
—
of you two (you and your wife)
;
bhagavan
—
O lord
;
rakṣiṣye
—
will protect
;
dīnayoḥ
—
who are wretched
;
iha
—
in this matter
;
anistīrṇa
—
failing to fulfill
;
pratijṣaḥ
—
my promise
;
agnim
—
fire
;
pravekṣye
—
I will enter
;
hata
—
destroyed
;
kalmaṣaḥ
—
whose contamination .
Translation
“My lord, I will protect the progeny of you and your wife, who are in such distress. And if I fail to keep this promise, I will enter fire to atone for my sin.”
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
"My lord, I will protect the progeny of you and your wife, who are in such distress. And if I fail to keep this promise, I will enter fire to atone for my sin."
KB 10.89.29
“My lord, I promise that I shall give protection to your children, and if I am unable to do so, then I shall enter into blazing fire so that the sinful contamination which has infected me will be counteracted.”
Purport
Chivalrous Arjuna could not tolerate the shame of being unable to fulfill his promise. As Kṛṣṇa says in
Bhagavad-gītā
(2.34)
,
sambhāvitasya cākīrtir maraṇād atiricyate:
“For a respected person, dishonor is worse than death.”
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Arjuna addresses the husband and wife (vam). Though the wife was present she was silent because of her grief.
"If I break my promise (anistirna pratijnah), then I will enter the fire, and will be free of the fault of breaking my promise (hata kalmasah)."
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
He speaks to the brāhmaṇa and his wife. Out of great lamentation the wife had also come. Or she came together with him to show their suffering to others. I will enter fire to become free of sin of hearing a brāhmaṇa lament. Or I will enter fire because of not being free of sin (ahata-kalmasaḥ).
Or, the sentence should be completed as follows. Hata-kalmaṣaḥ syām: I will thus be freed of sin.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
I will protect the progeny of you two (vaḥ). The wife came there out of great grief or she came with him so others would believe her husband. Arjuna addresses the brāhmaṇa as bhagavān to show great respect. Anistīrṇa-pratijña means “a promise is not crossed over.” It was great like the ocean. If I cannot keep the promise I will enter fire. By entering fire I will be free of the sin of breaking his promise. Or just on entering fire, his sin would be destroyed.