Devanagari
तयाभिहितमाकर्ण्य कंस: परमविस्मित: ।
देवकीं वसुदेवं च विमुच्य प्रश्रितोऽब्रवीत् ॥ १४ ॥
Verse text
tayābhihitam ākarṇya
kaṁsaḥ parama-vismitaḥ
devakīṁ vasudevaṁ ca
vimucya praśrito ’bravīt
Synonyms
tayā
—
by the goddess Durgā
;
abhihitam
—
the words spoken
;
ākarṇya
—
by hearing
;
kaṁsaḥ
—
Kaṁsa
;
parama
—
vismitaḥ — was struck with wonder
;
devakīm
—
unto Devakī
;
vasudevam ca
—
and Vasudeva
;
vimucya
—
releasing immediately
;
praśritaḥ
—
with great humility
;
abravīt
—
spoke as follows .
Translation
After hearing the words of the goddess Durgā, Kaṁsa was struck with wonder. Thus he approached his sister Devakī and brother-in-law Vasudeva, released them immediately from their shackles, and very humbly spoke as follows.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
After hearing the words of the goddess Durgā, Kaṁsa was struck with wonder. Thus he approached his sister Devakī and brother-in-law Vasudeva, released them immediately from their shackles, and very humbly spoke as follows.
KB 10.4.14
After hearing these words, Kaṁsa became very much overwhelmed with fear. Out of pity, he immediately released Vasudeva and Devakī from the bondage of their shackles and very politely began to address them.
Purport
Kaṁsa was astonished because the goddess Durgā had become the daughter of Devakī. Since Devakī was a human being, how could the goddess Durgā become her daughter? This was one cause of his astonishment. Also, how is it that the eighth child of Devakī was a female? This also astonished him.
Asuras
are generally devotees of mother Durgā, Śakti, or of demigods, especially Lord Śiva. The appearance of Durgā in her original eight-armed feature, holding various weapons, immediately changed Kaṁsa’s mind about Devakī’s being an ordinary human. Devakī must have had some transcendental qualities; otherwise why would the goddess Durgā have taken birth from her womb? Under the circumstances, Kaṁsa, struck with wonder, wanted to compensate for his atrocities against his sister Devakī.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Kamsa was astonished. "How could mortal Devaki give birth to Durga devi? How could Durga’s words be false?"
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
He released them from the prison. The affix vi signifies viśeṣa, special. He released them from prison first and then took off their chains, since he felt somewhat uncomfortable doing this in front of the guards. He released Devakī first since she was a woman, since she was his sister and since she suffered more. Hearing Durgā’s words, he released Devakī and Vasudeva and with humility spoke to them. He was astonished by Durgā’s sudden display of power and her words.