Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 12.1.41

tan-nāthās te janapadās

tac-chīlācāra-vādinaḥ

anyonyato rājabhiś ca

kṣayaḿ yāsyanti pīḍitāḥ

SYNONYMS

tat-nāthāḥ — the subjects having these kings as rulers; te — they; jana-padāḥ — the residents of the cities; tat — of these kings; śīla — (imitating) the character; ācāra — behavior; vādinaḥ — and speech; anyonyataḥ — one another; rājabhiḥ — by the kings; ca — and; kṣayam yāsyanti — they will become ruined; pīḍitāḥ — tormented.

TRANSLATION

The citizens governed by these low-class kings will imitate the character, behavior and speech of their rulers. Harassed by their leaders and by each other, they will all suffer ruination.

PURPORT

At the end of the Ninth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, it is stated that Ripuñjaya, or Purañjaya, the first king mentioned in this chapter, ended his rule about one thousand years after the time of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Since Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared approximately five thousand years ago, Purañjaya must have appeared about four thousand years ago. That would mean that Viśvasphūrji, the last king mentioned, would have appeared approximately in the twelfth century of the Christian era.

Modern Western scholars have made the false accusation that Indian religious literature has no sense of chronological history. But the elaborate historical chronology described in this chapter certainly refutes that naive assessment.

Thus end the purports of the humble servants of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda to the Twelfth Canto, First Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled "The Degraded Dynasties of Kali-yuga."

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
His Holiness Hrdayananda dasa Goswami
Gopiparanadhana dasa Adhikari
Dravida dasa Brahmacari