Text 23]
Dhruva Mahārāja Returns Home
391
prasthite —after departure;  tu —but;  vanam —to the forest;  pitrā —by your father;  dattvā —awarding;  gām —the whole world;  dharma-saṁśrayaḥ —under the protection of piety;  ṣaṭ-triṁśat —thirty-six;  varṣa —years;  sāhasram —one thousand;  rakṣitā —you will rule;  avyāhata —without decay;  indriyaḥ —the power of the senses.
TRANSLATION
After your father goes to the forest and awards you the rule of his kingdom, you will rule the entire world continually for 36,000 years, and all your senses will continue to be as strong as they are now. You will never become old.
PURPORT
In the Satya-yuga people generally lived for 100,000 years. Dhruva Mahārāja's ruling the world for 36,000 years was quite possible in those days.
TEXT 23
त्वद्धातर्युत्तमे नष्टे मृगयायां तु तन्मनाः । अन्वेषन्ती वनं माता दावामि सा प्रवेक्ष्यति ॥२३॥
tvad-bhrātary uttame naṣṭe mṛgayāyāṁ tu tan-manāḥ anveṣantī vanaṁ mātā dāvāgniṁ sā pravekṣyati
tvat —your;  bhrātari —brother;  uttame —Uttama;  naṣṭe —being killed;  mṛgayāyāṁ —in hunting;  tu —then;  tat-manāḥ —being too afflicted;  anveṣantī —while searching out;  vanam —in the forest;  mātā —the mother;  dāva-agnim —in the forest fire;  sā —she;  pravekṣyati —will enter.
TRANSLATION
The Lord continued: Sometime in the future your brother Uttama will go hunting in the forest, and while absorbed in hunting, he will be killed. Your stepmother Suruci, being maddened upon the death of her son, will go to search him out in the forest, but she will be devoured by a forest fire.
PURPORT
Dhruva Mahārāja came to the forest to search out the Supreme Personality of Godhead with a revenging spirit against his stepmother. His step-