Devanagari
इत्थम्भूतानुभावोऽसौ पृथु: स भगवत्तम: ।
कीर्तितं तस्य चरितमुद्दामचरितस्य ते ॥ ३० ॥
Verse text
ittham-bhūtānubhāvo ’sau
pṛthuḥ sa bhagavattamaḥ
kīrtitaṁ tasya caritam
uddāma-caritasya te
Synonyms
ittham
—
bhūta — thus
;
anubhāvaḥ
—
very great, powerful
;
asau
—
that
;
pṛthuḥ
—
King Pṛthu
;
saḥ
—
he
;
bhagavat
—
tamaḥ — the best among the lords
;
kīrtitam
—
described
;
tasya
—
his
;
caritam
—
character
;
uddāma
—
very great
;
caritasya
—
one who possesses such qualities
;
te
—
to you .
Translation
Maitreya continued: The greatest of all devotees, Mahārāja Pṛthu, was very powerful, and his character was liberal, magnificent and magnanimous. Thus I have described him to you as far as possible.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Pṛthu was the best of devotees and great authority as described. I have described to you the story of Pṛthu, of splendid character.
Purport
In this verse the word
bhagavattamaḥ
is very significant, for the word
bhagavat
is used especially to refer to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as the word
bhagavān,
“the Supreme Personality of Godhead,” is derived from the word
bhagavat.
Sometimes, however, we see that the word
bhagavān
is used for great personalities like Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva and Nārada Muni. This is the case with Pṛthu Mahārāja, who is described here as the best of the
bhagavāns,
or the best of the lords. A person can be so addressed only if he is a great personality who exhibits extraordinary and uncommon features or who attains the greatest goal after his disappearance or who knows the difference between knowledge and ignorance. In other words, the word
bhagavān
should not be used for ordinary persons.