776 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 1, Ch. 15

yat—whose; sannidhau—being nearby; aham—myself; u—note of aston-
ishment; khandavam—the protected forest of Indra, King of heaven;
agnaye—unto the fire-god; adam—delivered; indram—Indra; ca—also; sa—
along with; amara-garram—the demigods; tarasa—with all dexterity; vijit ya
—having conquered; labdha—having obtained; sabha—assembly house;
maya-krta—built by Maya; adbhuta—very wonderful; silpa—art and work-
manship; maya—potency; digbhyah—from all directions; aharan—collect-
ing; nrpatayah—all princes; balim—presentations; adhvare—brought; te—
unto you.

TRANSLATION

Because He was near me, it was possible for me to conquer with
great dexterity the powerful King of heaven, Indradeva, along with his
demigod associates and thus enable the fire-god to devastate the Khandava
forest. And by His grace only the demon named Maya was saved from the
blazing Khandava forest, and thus we could build our assembly house of
wonderful architectural workmanship where all the princes assembled
during the performance of Rajasiya-yajiia and paid you tributes.

PURPORT

The demon Mayadanava was an inhabitant of the forest Khandava, and
when the Khandava forest was set on fire, he asked protection from Arjuna.
Arjuna saved his life, and as a result of this the demon felt obliged. He
reciprocated by building a wonderful assembly house for the Pandavas,
which attracted the extraordinary attention of all state princes. They felt
the supernatural power of the Pandavas, and thus without grudge all of
them submitted and paid tributes to the Emperor. The demons possess
wonderful and supernatural powers to create material wonders. But they
are always disturbing elements of the society. The modern demons are the
harmful material scientists who create some material wonders for distur-
bance in the society. For example, the creation of the nuclear weapons
has caused some panic in the human society. Maya was also a materialist
like that, and he knew the art of creating wonderful things. And yet Lord
Krsna wanted to kill him. When he was chased both by the fire and the
wheel of Lord Krsna, he took shelter of a devotee like Arjuna, who saved
him from the wrath of the fire of Lord Sri Krsna. Devotees are therefore
more merciful than the Lord, and in devotional service the mercy of a
devotee is more valuable than the mercy of the Lord. Both the fire and
