Verse Text
śrutaṁ, yathā –
yāny akṣipan praharaṇāni bhaṭāḥ sa devaḥ
pratyekam acchinad amūni śara-trayeṇa |
ity ākalayya yudhi kaṁsa-ripoḥ prabhāvaṁ
sphārekṣaṇaḥ kṣitipatiḥ pulakī tadāsīt ||9||
Translation
From hearing about Kṛṣṇa’s superhuman acts: Kṛṣṇa with only three arrows cut down all the arrows fired by eleven akṣauhiṇī of troops under Narakāsura. When Parīkṣit heard of the prowess of Kṛṣṇa in battle, his eyes opened wide and his hairs stood on end.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Bhaṭāḥ means soldiers. Here it refers to Narakāsura’s eleven armies (akṣauhinī). Kṣiti-patiḥ (king) refers to Parikṣit.
Purport (Nectar of Devotion)
An instance of astonishment in devotional service by indirect perception occurred when Mahārāja Parīkṣit heard from Śukadeva Gosvāmī about Kṛṣṇa’s killing Narakāsura, who had been fighting Kṛṣṇa with eleven akṣauhiṇī divisions of soldiers. Each division of akṣauhiṇī soldiers contained several thousand elephants, several thousand horses and chariots and several hundreds of thousands of infantry soldiers. Narakāsura possessed eleven such divisions, and all of them were throwing arrows toward Kṛṣṇa, but Kṛṣṇa killed them all, simply by throwing three arrows from His side. When Mahārāja Parīkṣit heard of this wonderful victory, he immediately rubbed the tears from his eyes and became overwhelmed with joy. This instance is an example of astonishment in devotional service by indirect perception through aural reception.