Devanagari
क्षत्रं क्षयाय विधिनोपभृतं महात्मा
ब्रह्मध्रुगुज्झितपथं नरकार्तिलिप्सु ।
उद्धन्त्यसाववनिकण्टकमुग्रवीर्य-
स्त्रि:सप्तकृत्व उरुधारपरश्वधेन ॥ २२ ॥
Verse text
kṣatraṁ kṣayāya vidhinopabhṛtaṁ mahātmā
brahma-dhrug ujjhita-pathaṁ narakārti-lipsu
uddhanty asāv avanikaṇṭakam ugra-vīryas
triḥ-sapta-kṛtva urudhāra-paraśvadhena
Synonyms
kṣatram
—
the royal order
;
kṣayāya
—
for the sake of diminishing
;
vidhinā
—
by destination
;
upabhṛtam
—
increased in proportion
;
mahātmā
—
the Lord in the form of the great sage Paraśurāma
;
brahma
—
dhruk — the ultimate truth in Brahman
;
ujjhita
—
patham — those who have given up the path of the Absolute Truth
;
naraka
—
ārti — lipsu — desirous to suffer pain in hell
;
uddhanti
—
exacts
;
asau
—
all those
;
avanikaṇṭakam
—
thorns of the world
;
ugra
—
vīryaḥ — awfully powerful
;
triḥ
—
sapta — thrice seven times
;
kṛtvaḥ
—
performed
;
urudhāra
—
very sharp
;
paraśvadhena
—
by the great chopper .
Translation
When the ruling administrators, who are known as the kṣatriyas, turned astray from the path of the Absolute Truth, being desirous to suffer in hell, the Lord, in His incarnation as the sage Paraśurāma, uprooted those unwanted kings, who appeared as the thorns of the earth. Thus He thrice seven times uprooted the kṣatriyas with His keenly sharpened chopper.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
With his sharp axe, the greatly powerful Lord twenty-one times killed the kṣatriyas, thorns in the earth, who had committed violence against the brāhmaṇas, had strayed from the path of the Vedas, had desired suffering in hell, and thus became an offering to death according to the rules.
Purport
The
kṣatriyas,
or the ruling administrators of any part of the universe, either on this planet or on other planets, are factually the representatives of the Almighty Personality of Godhead, and they are meant to lead the subjects towards the path of God realization. Every state and its administrators, regardless of the nature of the administration — monarchy or democracy, oligarchy or dictatorship or autocracy — have the prime responsibility to lead the citizens toward God realization. This is essential for all human beings, and it is the duty of the father, spiritual master, and ultimately the state to take up the responsibility of leading the citizens towards this end. The whole creation of material existence is made for this purpose, just to give a chance to the fallen souls who rebelled against the will of the Supreme Father and thus became conditioned by material nature. The force of material nature gradually leads one to a hellish condition of perpetual pains and miseries. Those going against the prescribed rules and regulations of conditional life are called
brahmojjhita-pathas,
or persons going against the path of the Absolute Truth, and they are liable to be punished. Lord Paraśurāma, the incarnation of the Personality of Godhead, appeared in such a state of worldly affairs and killed all the miscreant kings twenty-one times. Many
kṣatriya
kings fled from India to other parts of the world at that time, and according to the authority of the
Mahābhārata,
the kings of Egypt originally migrated from India because of Paraśurāma’s program of chastisement. The kings or administrators are similarly chastised in all circumstances whenever they become godless and plan a godless civilization. That is the order of the Almighty.
Commentary (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
This verse describes Paraśurāma. He killed the kṣatriyas, who were an offering (upabhṛtam) to death (kṣayāya) according to the rules. This means that they were offered up as a gift to Paraśurāma who was filled with raudra-rasa. The kṣatriyas committed violence against the brāhmaṇas. That was the reason why he killed them.