Devanagari
स शरासनमुद्यम्य मृगयुर्वनगोचर: ।
हन्त्यसाधुर्मृगान् दीनान् वेनोऽसावित्यरौज्जन: ॥ ४० ॥
Verse text
sa śarāsanam udyamya
mṛgayur vana-gocaraḥ
hanty asādhur mṛgān dīnān
veno ’sāv ity arauj janaḥ
Synonyms
saḥ
—
that boy of the name Vena
;
śarāsanam
—
his bow
;
udyamya
—
taking up
;
mṛgayuḥ
—
the hunter
;
vana
—
gocaraḥ — going into the forest
;
hanti
—
used to kill
;
asādhuḥ
—
being very cruel
;
mṛgān
—
deer
;
dīnān
—
poor
;
venaḥ
—
Vena
;
asau
—
there he is
;
iti
—
thus
;
araut
—
would cry
;
janaḥ
—
all the people .
Translation
After fixing his bow and arrow, the cruel boy used to go to the forest and unnecessarily kill innocent deer, and as soon as he came all the people would cry, “Here comes cruel Vena! Here comes cruel Vena!”
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Taking up his bow and going to the forest, the evil hunter would kill the unfortunate deer. People would shout, “Here comes Vena!”
Seeing him from far off, the people would shout, “Here comes Vena! Maybe he is coming to kill us too!”
Purport
Kṣatriyas
are allowed to hunt in the forest for the purpose of learning the killing art, not to kill animals for eating or for any other purpose. The
kṣatriya
kings were sometimes expected to cut off the head of a culprit in the state. For this reason the
kṣatriyas
were allowed to hunt in the forest. Because this son of King Aṅga, Vena, was born of a bad mother, he was very cruel, and he used to go to the forest and unnecessarily kill the animals. All the neighboring inhabitants would be frightened by his presence, and they would call, “Here comes Vena! Here comes Vena!” So from the beginning of his life he was fearful to the citizens.