Text 5] How Pariksit Received the Age of Kali 841
TAPATR UAVS THT: TaTEAM |
TTA AeA Ve SMS |! 4 II
Saunaka uvaca
kasya hetor nijagraha
kalim digvijaye nrpah
nrdeva-cihna-dhrk sudrako
’sau gam yah pada-hanat
tat kathyatam maha-bhaga
yadi krsna-kathasrayam
Saunakah uvaca—Saunaka Resi said; kasya—for what; hetoh—reason;
nijagraha—sufficiently punished; kalim—the master of the age of Kali;
digvijaye—during the time of his world tour; nrpah—a king; nrdeva—
royal person; cihna-dhrk—decorated like; siidrakah—lowest of the siidras;
asau—he; gam—cow; yah—one who; pada-hanat—struck on the leg; tat—all
that; kathyatam—please describe; maha-bhaga—O greatly fortunate one;
yadi—if, however; krspa—about Krsna; katha-asrayam—related with His
topics.
TRANSLATION
Saunaka Rsi inquired: Why did Maharaja Pariksit simply punish him,
since he was the lowest of the sidras, having dressed as a king and harmed
the legs of a cow? Please describe all these incidences as they relate to the
topics of Lord Krsna.
PURPORT
Saunaka and the rsis were astonished to hear that the pious Maharaja
Pariksit simply punished the culprit and did not kill him. This suggests
that a pious king like Maharaja Pariksit should have at once killed an
offender who wanted to cheat the public, being dressed like a king and at
the same time daring to insult the purest of the animals, a cow! The ssis in
those days, however, could not even imagine that in the advanced days of
the age of Kali the lowest of the sidras will be elected as administrators
and will open organized slaughterhouses for killing cows. Anyway, although
hearing about a siidraka who was a cheat and insulter of a cow was not
very interesting to the great rsis, they nevertheless wanted to hear about it
to see if the event had any connection with Lord Krsna. They were
simply interested in the topics of Lord Krsna, for anything that is dove-
