676 Stimad-Bhagavatam [| Canto 4, Ch. 17

paridevitam—lamentation; dirgham—for a long time; dadhyau—contem-
plated; kuru-srestha—O Vidura; nimittam—the cause; sah—he; anvapadyata—
found out.

TRANSLATION

After hearing this lamentation and seeing the pitiable condition of the
citizens, King Prthu contemplated this matter for a long time to see if he
could find out the underlying causes.

TEXT 13

afa saat sqeat syéteraaea: |
aay fafrd ya: safage TAT Ne

iti vyavasito buddhya
pragrhita-sardasanah

sandadhe visikham bhimeh
kruddhas tri-pura-ha yatha

iti—thus; vyavasitah—having arrived at the conclusion; buddhya—by in-
telligence; pragrhita— having taken up; sardsanah— the bow; sandadhe—fixed;
visikham—an arrow; bhimeh—at the earth; kruddhah—angr y; tri-pura-ha—
Lord Siva; yatha—like.

TRANSLATION

Having arrived at a conclusion, the King took up his bow and arrow and
aimed them at the earth, exactly as Lord Siva destroyed the whole world
out of anger.

PURPORT

King Prthu found out the cause for the scarcity of food grains. He could
understand that it was not the people’s fault, for they were not lazy in
executing their duties. Rather, the earth was not producing sufficient
food grains. This indicates that the earth can produce sufficiently if
everything is properly arranged, but sometimes the earth can refuse to
produce food grains for various reasons. The theory that there is a scarcity
of food grains due to an increase of population is not a very sound theory.
There are other causes that enable the earth to produce profusely or to
stop producing. King Prthu found out the proper causes and took the
necessary steps immediately.
