Text 42] The Story of King Vena 615

to take some steps to relieve the situation. For want of a king, everything
was being disturbed and turned topsy-turvy.

TEXT 42

aKa dat waite dng!
ANT RTT ASH FATT: 182

nangasya vamso rdajarser

esa samsthatum arhati
amogha-viryda hi nrpa

vamse ’smin kesavasrayah

na—not; aigasya—of King Anga; vamsah—family line; raja-rseh—of the
saintly King; esah—this; saristhatum—to be stopped; arhati—ought; amogha
—without sin, powerful; viryah—their semina; hi—because; nrpah—kings;
vamse—in the family; asmin—this; kesava—of the Supreme Personality of
Godhead; asrayah—under the shelter.

TRANSLATION

The sages decided that the descendants of the family of the saintly King
Anga should not be stopped because in this family the semina was very
powerful and the children were prone to become devotees of the Lord.

PURPORT

The purity of hereditary succession is called amogha-virya. The pious
seminal succession in the twice-born family of the brahmanas and ksatriyas
especially, as well as in the family of vaisyas also, must be kept very pure
by the observation of the purificatory processes beginning with garbha-
dhdna-samskara, which is observed before giving birth to a child. Unless this
purificatory process is strictly observed, especially by the brahmanas, the
family descendants become impure, and gradually sinful activities become
visible in the family. Maharaja Anga was very pure because of the purifica-
tion of semina in the family of Maharaja Dhruva. However, his semina
became contaminated in association with his wife, Sunitha, who happened
to be the daughter of death personified. Because of this polluted semina,
King Vena was produced. This was a catastrophe in the family of Dhruva
