Devanagari
उच्चैःश्रवसमश्वानां विद्धि माममृतोद्भवम् ।
ऐरावतं गजेन्द्राणां नराणां च नराधिपम् ॥ २७ ॥
Verse text
uccaiḥśravasam aśvānāṁ
viddhi mām amṛtodbhavam
airāvataṁ gajendrāṇāṁ
narāṇāṁ ca narādhipam
Synonyms
uccaiḥśravasam
—
Uccaiḥśravā
;
aśvānām
—
among horses
;
viddhi
—
know
;
mām
—
Me
;
amṛta-udbhavam
—
produced from the churning of the ocean
;
airāvatam
—
Airāvata
;
gaja-indrāṇām
—
of lordly elephants
;
narāṇām
—
among human beings
;
ca
—
and
;
nara-adhipam
—
the king.
Translation
Of horses know Me to be Uccaiḥśravā, produced during the churning of the ocean for nectar. Of lordly elephants I am Airāvata, and among men I am the monarch.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
27. Know that among horses I am Uccaiḥśrava who rose from the nectar ocean. Among elephants I am Airāvata. [Note: The elephant also arose from the churning of the ocean.] Among men I am the king.
Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
27. Know that among horses I am Uccaiḥśrava who rose from the nectar ocean. Among elephants, I am Airāvata. Among men, I am the king.
Purport
The devotee demigods and the demons ( asuras ) once took part in churning the sea. From this churning, nectar and poison were produced, and Lord Śiva drank the poison. From the nectar were produced many entities, of which there was a horse named Uccaiḥśravā. Another animal produced from the nectar was an elephant named Airāvata. Because these two animals were produced from nectar, they have special significance, and they are representatives of Kṛṣṇa.
Amongst the human beings, the king is the representative of Kṛṣṇa because Kṛṣṇa is the maintainer of the universe, and the kings, who are appointed on account of their godly qualifications, are maintainers of their kingdoms. Kings like Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, Mahārāja Parīkṣit and Lord Rāma were all highly righteous kings who always thought of the citizens’ welfare. In Vedic literature, the king is considered to be the representative of God. In this age, however, with the corruption of the principles of religion, monarchy decayed and is now finally abolished. It is to be understood that in the past, however, people were more happy under righteous kings.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Among horses, I am Ucchaiḥśrava who arose from the churning of the nectar ocean (amṛtodbhavam).
Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
Among horses I am Ucchaiḥśrava. Among elephants know that I am Airāvata. The special quality of both of these is that they arose from the churning of the milk ocean for the purpose of gaining nectar. [Note: Both became the property of Indra. Ucchaiḥśravas means “loudly praised.” Airāvata is so called because his mother was named Irāvatī.] I am the king (narādhipam) among men, who is fixed in dharma and has unbearable strength.