Text 9] The Killing of the Demon Pitana 9
motherly affection, although artificial, He had to offer her a benediction.
Therefore He looked at her with a little perplexity and then closed His
eyes again. Piitana Raksasi also was perplexed. She was not intelligent
enough to understand that she was taking a sleeping snake on her lap;
she thought the snake to be an ordinary rope. The two words antakam
and anantam are contradictory. Because of not being intelligent, Pitana
thought that she could kill her antakam, the source of her annihilation;
but because He is ananta, unlimited, no one can kill Him.
TEXT 9
feara aerator |
vet Fert a afta
frhaamt sadt afagarqii <1
tam tiksna-cittam ativama-cestitam
viksyantara kosa-paricchadasivat
vara-striyam tat-prabhaya ca dharsite
niriksyamane janani hy atisthatam
tam—that (Pitand Raksasi); tiksna-cittam—having a very fierce
heart for killing the child; ati-véma-cestitam—although she was trying
to treat the child better than a mother; viksya antard—seeing her within
the room; kosa-paricchada-asi-vat—like a sharp sword within a soft
sheath; vara-striyam—the very beautiful woman; tat-prabhaya—by
her influence; ca—also; dharsite—being overwhelmed; niriksyamane—
were seeing; janani—the two mothers; hi—indeed; atisthatam—they
remained silent, without prohibiting.
TRANSLATION
Patana Raksasi’s heart was fierce and cruel, but she looked like a

very affectionate mother. Thus she resembled a sharp sword in a
soft sheath. Although seeing her within the room, Yasoda and
Rohini, overwhelmed by her beauty, did not stop her, but re-
mained silent because she treated the child like a mother.
