Devanagari
तस्मा इमं शापमदादसाधु-
रयं दुरात्माकृतबुद्धिरद्य ।
विप्रावमन्ता विशतां तमिस्रं
यथा गज: स्तब्धमति: स एव ॥ १० ॥
Verse text
tasmā imaṁ śāpam adād asādhur
ayaṁ durātmākṛta-buddhir adya
viprāvamantā viśatāṁ tamisraṁ
yathā gajaḥ stabdha-matiḥ sa eva
Synonyms
tasmai
—
unto Mahārāja Indradyumna
;
imam
—
this
;
śāpam
—
curse
;
adāt
—
he gave
;
asādhuḥ
—
not at all gentle
;
ayam
—
this
;
durātmā
—
degraded soul
;
akṛta
—
without education
;
buddhiḥ
—
his intelligence
;
adya
—
now
;
vipra
—
of a brāhmaṇa
;
avamantā
—
insulter
;
viśatām
—
let him enter
;
tamisram
—
darkness
;
yathā
—
as
;
gajaḥ
—
an elephant
;
stabdha
—
matiḥ — possessing blunt intelligence
;
saḥ
—
he
;
eva
—
indeed .
Translation
Agastya Muni then spoke this curse against the King: This King Indradyumna is not at all gentle. Being low and uneducated, he has insulted a brāhmaṇa. May he therefore enter the region of darkness and receive the dull, dumb body of an elephant.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Agastya uttered a curse against the King. “This person does not have proper conduct. He is degraded, without intelligence. He has insulted a brāhmaṇa today. May he therefore enter darkness just like an elephant with low intelligence! Let him become an elephant.”
His intelligence has not been given instruction (akṛta-buddhiḥ). Let him become an elephant!
Purport
An elephant is very strong, it has a very big body, and it can work very hard and eat a large quantity of food, but its intelligence is not at all commensurate with its size and strength. Thus in spite of so much bodily strength, the elephant works as a menial servant for a human being. Agastya Muni thought it wise to curse the King to become an elephant because the powerful King did not receive Agastya Muni as one is obliged to receive a
brāhmaṇa.
Yet although Agastya Muni cursed Mahārāja Indradyumna to become an elephant, the curse was indirectly a benediction, for by undergoing one life as an elephant, Indradyumna Mahārāja ended the reactions for all the sins of his previous life. Immediately after the expiry of the elephant’s life, he was promoted to Vaikuṇṭhaloka to become a personal associate of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa, in a body exactly like that of the Lord. This is called
sārūpya-mukti.