Devanagari
श्रीशुक उवाच
विलोक्य दूषितां कृष्णां कृष्ण: कृष्णाहिना विभु: ।
तस्या विशुद्धिमन्विच्छन् सर्पं तमुदवासयत् ॥ १ ॥
Verse text
śrī-śuka uvāca
vilokya dūṣitāṁ kṛṣṇāṁ
kṛṣṇaḥ kṛṣṇāhinā vibhuḥ
tasyā viśuddhim anvicchan
sarpaṁ tam udavāsayat
Synonyms
śrī
—
śukaḥ uvāca — Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said
;
vilokya
—
seeing
;
dūṣitām
—
contaminated
;
kṛṣṇām
—
the river Yamunā
;
kṛṣṇaḥ
—
Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa
;
kṛṣṇa
—
ahinā — by the black serpent
;
vibhuḥ
—
the almighty Lord
;
tasyāḥ
—
of the river
;
viśuddhim
—
the purification
;
anvicchan
—
desiring
;
sarpam
—
serpent
;
tam
—
that
;
udavāsayat
—
sent away .
Translation
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, seeing that the Yamunā River had been contaminated by the black snake Kāliya, desired to purify the river, and thus the Lord banished him from it.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, seeing that the Yamunā River had been contaminated by the black snake Kāliya, desired to purify the river, and thus the Lord banished him from it.
KB 10.16.1
When He understood that the water of the Yamunā was being polluted by the black serpent Kāliya, Lord Kṛṣṇa took action against him and made him leave the Yamunā and go elsewhere, and thus the water became purified.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
This chapter describes how Krsna brought Kaliya under control, Krsna’s pleasure with his prayers, and banishing him from the Yamuna.
In this verse krsnam refers to the Yamuna river. Seeing how Kaliya was polluting the Yamuna with poison, Krsna decided to remove Kaliya from that place.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Yamunā is called kṛṣṇām here because of her dark color and because of being dear to Kṛṣṇa. Thus he had to take action when she was contaminated with poison, since she was a dear friend. The snake was black because of being full of intense poison. Kṛṣṇa did not act simply for her benefit, but for everyone’s benefit since Kṛṣṇa takes away (kṛṣ) all sorrows. The whole universe would be benefited by the rescue of such a great holy place of Vraja, since people could drink the water. Thus Kāliya would also be benefited. He is called vibhuḥ (powerful) since according to his choice as previously on some occasions, he would manifest his powers, even though he was absorbed in childhood pastimes.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
Yamunā is called kṛṣṇām here because of her dark color and because of being dear to Kṛṣṇa. Thus he had to take action when she was contaminated with poison, since she was a dear friend. The snake was black because of being full of intense poison. Kṛṣṇa did not act simply for her benefit, but for everyone’s benefit since Kṛṣṇa takes away (kṛṣ) all sorrows. The whole universe would be benefited by the rescue of such a great holy place of Vraja, since people could drink the water. Thus Kāliya would also be benefited. This will be revealed later. Kṛṣṇa could perform such acts because he was able to many things by one act (vibhuḥ). Sarpa means a creature that crawls about. Kṛṣṇa prevented him from going elsewhere.