Canto 4: Creation of the Fourth OrderChapter 5: Frustration of the Sacrifice of Dakṣa

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 4.5.21

pūṣṇo hy apātayad dantān

kālińgasya yathā balaḥ

śapyamāne garimaṇi

yo 'hasad darśayan dataḥ

SYNONYMS

pūṣṇaḥ — of Pūṣā; hi — since; apātayat — extracted; dantān — the teeth; kālińgasya — of the King of Kalińga; yathā — as; balaḥ — Baladeva; śapyamāne — while being cursed; garimaṇi — Lord Śiva; yaḥ — who (Pūṣā); ahasat — smiled; darśayan — showing; dataḥ — his teeth.

TRANSLATION

Just as Baladeva knocked out the teeth of Dantavakra, the King of Kalińga, during the gambling match at the marriage ceremony of Aniruddha, Vīrabhadra knocked out the teeth of both Dakṣa, who had shown them while cursing Lord Śiva, and Pūṣā, who by smiling sympathetically had also shown his teeth.

PURPORT

Here a reference is made to the marriage of Aniruddha, a grandson of Lord Kṛṣṇa's. He kidnapped the daughter of Dantavakra, and thereafter he was arrested. Just as he was to be punished for the kidnapping, the soldiers from Dvārakā arrived, headed by Balarāma, and a fight ensued amongst the kṣatriyas. This sort of fight was very common, especially during marriage ceremonies, when everyone was in a challenging spirit. In that challenging spirit, a fight was sure to occur, and in such fights there was commonly killing and misfortune. After finishing such fighting, the parties would come to a compromise, and everything would be settled. This Dakṣa yajña was similar to such events. Now all of them — Dakṣa and the demigods Bhaga and Pūṣā and Bhṛgu Muni — were punished by the soldiers of Lord Śiva, but later everything would come to a peaceful end. So this spirit of fighting between one another was not exactly inimical. Because everyone was so powerful and wanted to show his strength by Vedic mantra or mystic power, all these fighting skills were very elaborately exhibited by the different parties at the Dakṣa yajña.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness