Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 6 Chapter 9 Verse 11

Canto 6: Prescribed Duties for Mankind | Chapter 9: Appearance of the Demon Vṛtrāsura

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 6.9.11

hata-putras tatas tvaṣṭā

juhāvendrāya śatrave

indra-śatro vivardhasva

mā ciraḿ jahi vidviṣam

SYNONYMS

hata-putraḥ — who lost his son; tataḥ — thereafter; tvaṣṭā — Tvaṣṭā; juhāva — performed a sacrifice; indrāya — of Indra; śatrave — for creating an enemy; indra-śatro — O enemy of Indra; vivardhasva — increase; mā — not; ciram — after a long time; jahi — kill; vidviṣam — your enemy.

TRANSLATION

After Viśvarūpa was killed, his father, Tvaṣṭā, performed ritualistic ceremonies to kill Indra. He offered oblations in the sacrificial fire, saying, "O enemy of Indra, flourish to kill your enemy without delay."

PURPORT

There was some defect in Tvaṣṭā's chanting of the mantra because he chanted it long instead of short, and therefore the meaning changed. Tvaṣṭā intended to chant the word indra-śatro, meaning, "O enemy of Indra." In this mantra, the word indra is in the possessive case (ṣaṣṭhī), and the word indra-śatro is called a tat-puruṣa compound (tatpuruṣa-samāsa). Unfortunately, instead of chanting the mantra short, Tvaṣṭā chanted it long, and its meaning changed from "the enemy of Indra" to "Indra, who is an enemy." Consequently instead of an enemy of Indra's, there emerged the body of Vṛtrāsura, of whom Indra was the enemy.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness