Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 10 Chapter 68 Verse 41

Canto 10: The Summum Bonum | Chapter 68: The Marriage of Sāmba

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.68.41

lāńgalāgreṇa nagaram

udvidārya gajāhvayam

vicakarṣa sa gańgāyāḿ

prahariṣyann amarṣitaḥ

SYNONYMS

lāńgala — of His plow; agreṇa — with the tip; nagaram — the city; udvidārya — tearing up; gajāhvayam — Hastināpura; vicakarṣa — dragged; saḥ — He; gańgāyām — in the Ganges; prahariṣyan — about to cast it; amarṣitaḥ — enraged.

TRANSLATION

The Lord angrily dug up Hastināpura with the tip of His plow and began to drag it, intending to cast the entire city into the Ganges.

PURPORT

Śrīla Prabhupāda writes as follows: "Lord Balarāma seemed so furious that He looked as if He could burn the whole cosmic creation to ashes. He stood up steadily and, taking His plow in His hand, began striking the earth with it. In this way the whole city of Hastināpura was separated from the earth. Lord Balarāma then began to drag the city toward the flowing water of the river Ganges. Because of this, there was a great tremor throughout Hastināpura, as if there had been an earthquake, and it seemed that the whole city would be dismantled."

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī states that by the Lord's desire His plow had increased in size, and that as Balarāma began dragging Hastināpura toward the water, He ordered the Ganges, "Except for Sāmba, you should attack and kill everyone in the city with your water." Thus He would fulfill His promise to rid the earth of the Kauravas while making sure that nothing bad would happen to Sāmba.

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