372 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 1, Ch. 7
TEXT 55

; aa sala
Wat: aeassaA «etelenanfeay |
ai sen yard fare aerpiaTy MUI!

suta uvaca
arjunah sahasa “jaya
harer hardam athasina
manim jahara miirdhanyam
dvijasya saha miirdhajam

sutah—Suta Gosvami; uvaca—said; arjunah—Arjuna; sahasa—just at
that time; ajnaya—knowing it; hareh—of the Lord; hardam—motive; atha
—thus; asind—by the sword; manim—the jewel; jahdara—separated;
mirdhanyam—on the head; dvijasya—of the twice-born; saha—with;
mirdhajam—hairs.

TRANSLATION

Just then Arjuna could understand the motive of the Lord by His
equivocal orders, and thus with his sword he severed both hair and jewel
from the head of Asvatthama.

PURPORT

Contradictory orders of different persons are impossible to carry out.
Therefore a compromise was selected by Arjuna by his sharp intelligence,
and he separated the jewel from the head of Asvatthama which was as
good as cutting off his head, and yet his life was saved for all practical
purposes. Here Asvatthama is indicated as twice-born. Certainly he was
twice-born, but he fell down from his position, and therefore he was pro-
perly punished.

TEXT 56

Rat WARS TERT |
dare AftraT ett Palrararcarradq 14!

vimucya ragsanabaddham
bala-hatya-hata-prabham
