Devanagari
तं जिघांसुमभिप्रेत्य विहाय नृपलाञ्छनम् ।
तत्पादमूलं शिरसा समगाद् भयविह्वल: ॥ २९ ॥
Verse text
taṁ jighāṁsum abhipretya
vihāya nṛpa-lāṣchanam
tat-pāda-mūlaṁ śirasā
samagād bhaya-vihvalaḥ
Synonyms
tam
—
him
;
jighāṁsum
—
willing to kill
;
abhipretya
—
knowing it well
;
vihāya
—
leaving aside
;
nṛpa
—
lāṣchanam — the dress of a king
;
tat
—
pāda — mūlam — at his feet
;
śirasā
—
by the head
;
samagāt
—
fully surrendered
;
bhaya
—
vihvalaḥ — under pressure of fearfulness .
Translation
When the personality of Kali understood that the King was willing to kill him, he at once abandoned the dress of a king and, under pressure of fear, completely surrendered to him, bowing his head.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Seeing the King intending to kill him he gave up the markings of a king in great fear and bowed his head to Parīkṣit’s feet.
Purport
The royal dress of the personality of Kali is artificial. The royal dress is suitable for a king or
kṣatriya,
but when a lower-class man artificially dresses himself as a king, his real identity is disclosed by the challenge of a bona fide
kṣatriya
like Mahārāja Parīkṣit. A real
kṣatriya
never surrenders. He accepts the challenge of his rival
kṣatriya,
and he fights either to die or to win. Surrender is unknown to a real
kṣatriya.
In the Age of Kali there are so many pretenders dressed and posed like administrators or executive heads, but their real identity is disclosed when they are challenged by a real
kṣatriya.
Therefore when the artificially dressed personality of Kali saw that to fight Mahārāja Parīkṣit was beyond his ability, he bowed down his head like a subordinate and gave up his royal dress.
Commentary (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Kali thought, “It is not possible for me to fight with him. A kṣatriya cannot surrender. Therefore giving up the king’s clothing I will fall at his feet.”