Devanagari
तोकेनामीलिताक्षेण पूतनाया महौजस:
। पीत: स्तन: सह प्राणै: कालेनेव वयस्तनो: ॥ ४ ॥
Verse text
tokenāmīlitākṣeṇa
pūtanāyā mahaujasaḥ
pītaḥ stanaḥ saha prāṇaiḥ
kāleneva vayas tanoḥ
Synonyms
tokena
—
by the young child
;
ā
—
mīlita — almost closed
;
akṣeṇa
—
whose eyes
;
pūtanāyāḥ
—
of the witch Pūtanā
;
mahā
—
ojasaḥ — whose power was very great
;
pītaḥ
—
drunk
;
stanaḥ
—
the breast
;
saha
—
along with
;
prāṇaiḥ
—
her life air
;
kālena
—
by the force of time
;
iva
—
as
;
vayaḥ
—
the life span
;
tanoḥ
—
of a material body .
Translation
As a mere infant who had hardly yet opened His eyes, He drank the breast milk of the powerful demoness Pūtanā and then sucked out her very life air as well, just as the force of time sucks out the youth of one’s body.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
As a mere infant who had hardly yet opened His eyes, He drank the breast milk of the powerful demoness Pūtanā and then sucked out her very life air as well, just as the force of time sucks out the youth of one's body.
KB 10.26.4
“When He was simply a small baby and could not even see properly, He killed a great demon, Pūtanā. While sucking her breast, He also sucked out her life air. Kṛṣṇa killed the Pūtanā demon exactly as eternal time kills a living creature in due course.
Purport
The word
vayaḥ
in this verse indicates youth or life span in general. With irresistible power, time takes away our life, and that time is actually Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself. Thus in the case of the powerful witch Pūtanā, Lord Kṛṣṇa accelerated the time process and within an instant withdrew the duration of her life. Here the cowherd men mean to say, “How could a mere infant who could barely open His eyes so easily kill a very powerful demoness?”
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
How could he when he was a baby with half closed eyes sucked out her life air with the milk. "Half closed eyes" indicates that this was done unseen by others, just as, unnoticed, time sucks up youth from the body.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Though he performed many acts which were difficult to understand and which could cause doubt when he was very young, such as killing Pūtanā, by seeing him directly lift Govardhana at this time, all these become causes of doubt. This is explained in nine verses. He killed Pūtanā with his eyes completely closed, very easily, or being very young. How he drank her life air is difficult to understand. Therefore an example is given. He drank her life airs just as time drinks the years from the body. This indicates the baby’s great power. Katham from the previous verse should be understood for all the verses following. By all the astonishing activities, birth in a lowly family could not be suitable. Or, katham need not be understood in these verses. The verses illustrate the previous statement that his activities were most astonishing (verse 2).