Devanagari
कंस: पापमति: सख्यं तव चानकदुन्दुभे: ।
देवक्या अष्टमो गर्भो न स्त्री भवितुमर्हति ॥ ८ ॥
इति सञ्चिन्तयञ्छ्रुत्वा देवक्या दारिकावच: ।
अपि हन्ता गताशङ्कस्तर्हि तन्नोऽनयो भवेत् ॥ ९ ॥
Verse text
kaṁsaḥ pāpa-matiḥ sakhyaṁ
tava cānakadundubheḥ
devakyā aṣṭamo garbho
na strī bhavitum arhati
iti saṣcintayaṣ chrutvā
devakyā dārikā-vacaḥ
api hantā gatāśaṅkas
tarhi tan no ’nayo bhavet
Synonyms
kaṁsaḥ
—
King Kaṁsa
;
pāpa
—
matiḥ — very, very sinful, having a polluted mind
;
sakhyam
—
friendship
;
tava
—
your
;
ca
—
also
;
ānaka
—
dundubheḥ — of Vasudeva
;
devakyāḥ
—
of Devakī
;
aṣṭamaḥ garbhaḥ
—
the eighth pregnancy
;
na
—
not
;
strī
—
a woman
;
bhavitum arhati
—
is possible to be
;
iti
—
in this way
;
saṣcintayan
—
considering
;
śrutvā
—
and hearing (this news)
;
devakyāḥ
—
of Devakī
;
dārikā
—
vacaḥ — the message from the daughter
;
api
—
although there was
;
hantā gata
—
āśaṅkaḥ — there is a possibility that Kaṁsa would take steps to kill this child
;
tarhi
—
therefore
;
tat
—
that incident
;
naḥ
—
for us
;
anayaḥ bhavet
—
may not be very good .
Translation
Kaṁsa is both a great diplomat and a very sinful man. Therefore, having heard from Yoga-māyā, the daughter of Devakī, that the child who will kill him has already been born somewhere else, having heard that the eighth pregnancy of Devakī could not bring forth a female child, and having understood your friendship with Vasudeva, Kaṁsa, upon hearing that the purificatory process has been performed by me, the priest of the Yadu dynasty, may certainly consider all these points and suspect that Kṛṣṇa is the son of Devakī and Vasudeva. Then he might take steps to kill Kṛṣṇa. That would be a catastrophe.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Kaṁsa is both a great diplomat and a very sinful man. Therefore, having heard from Yogamāyā, the daughter of Devakī, that the child who will kill him has already been born somewhere else, having heard that the eighth pregnancy of Devakī could not bring forth a female child, and having understood your friendship with Vasudeva, Kaṁsa, upon hearing that the purificatory process has been performed by me, the priest of the Yadu dynasty, may certainly consider all these points and suspect that Kṛṣṇa is the son of Devakī and Vasudeva. Then he might take steps to kill Kṛṣṇa. That would be a catastrophe.
KB 10.8.8-9
Garga Muni also warned Nanda Mahārāja that if he would perform the reformatory ceremony, then Kaṁsa, who was naturally very sinful, would understand that Kṛṣṇa was the son of Devakī and Vasudeva. According to astrological calculation, Devakī could not have a female child, although everyone thought that the eighth child of Devakī was female. In this way Garga Muni intimated to Nanda Mahārāja that the female child was born of Yaśodā and that Kṛṣṇa was born of Devakī and they were exchanged. Also, the female child, Durgā, had informed Kaṁsa that the child who would kill him was already born somewhere else. Garga Muni stated, “If I give your child a name and if He fulfills the prophecy of the female child to Kaṁsa, then it may be that the sinful demon will come and kill this child also after the name-giving ceremony. But I do not want to become responsible for all these future calamities.”
Purport
Kaṁsa knew very well that Yoga-māyā was, after all, the maidservant of Kṛṣṇa and Viṣṇu and that although Yoga-māyā had appeared as the daughter of Devakī, she might have been forbidden to disclose this fact. Actually this was what had happened. Garga Muni argued very soberly that his taking part in performing the reformatory process for Kṛṣṇa would give rise to many doubts, so that Kaṁsa might take very severe steps to kill the child. Kaṁsa had already sent many demons to attempt to kill this child, but none of them had survived. If Garga Muni were to perform the purificatory process, Kaṁsa’s suspicions would be fully confirmed, and he would take very severe steps. Garga Muni gave this warning to Nanda Mahārāja.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Garga speaks to advise that the samskara must be done secretly because of danger to himself and Nanda from Kamsa. "Though you are actually a member of the Yadu dynasty, since you are not a ksatriya you are not known as a Yadu. I, however, am well known as the priest of the Yadus. If I were not to perform this ceremony secretly, there would be a lot of doubts."
"Everyone everywhere will think this".
"Who will pursue this matter?"
"Kamsa will."
"But will he, being a brahmavadi, actually kill you?"
"Yes, because he is a sinful person (papamati), he will kill people like us. He will certainly do it. Because he has committed violence against your friend Vasudeva (sakhyam), he will do the same to you. His evil intelligence will begin to act. Hearing the words of the daughter of Devaki, he thought: ‘It is not possible that the eighth child of Devaki is a girl. My enemy Visnu had certainly been born to Devaki, but by instruction of Vasudeva, he came to the house of his friend Nanda.’ ‘My worshipable deity Durga taking the role of Devaki’s daughter said that he who will kill me has already taken birth somewhere. Having ambiguously stated that Visnu was not born to Devaki, but somewhere else, she is hinting that I should search everywhere and quickly kill him.’ Thinking in this way, if Kamsa, engrossed in looking for his enemy, concludes that Vasudeva’s son is in Nanda’s house, by hearing about my performance of the nama karana, he will come here and kill the child. This will then be a great fault on my part."
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Kaṁsa has an evil mind. Api indicates possibility. Thus in the sentence it means “if.” If Kaṁsa, the killer, suspects something, then my doing the saṁskāras will give very opposite results (anayaḥ). Hantā can also mean “He will come quickly.” The following should be understood. In desiring to do the ceremony in secret Garga produced fear in Nanda’s heart, but the word hantā actually means “going.” Being suspicious, he will come here. The daughter of Devakī had said “Your killer, your enemy in a previous life, has already been born somewhere.” (SB 10.4.12) By this statement Kaṁsa no longer suspected Vasudeva. His friendship with Vasudeva will end on hearing news of a son being born to the imprisoned Vasudeva. Because he has an evil mind and has expert, evil counselors, he will infer as follows. “My enemy has been born as his son. On the instructions of Vasudeva, the son, taking the form of a female child to fool me, has then entered Nanda’s house.”
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
Kaṁsa has an evil mind. Api indicates possibility. Thus in the sentence it means “if.” If Kaṁsa, the killer, suspects something, then my doing the saṁskāras will give very opposite results (anayaḥ).
Hantā can also mean “He will come quickly.” The following should be understood. In desiring to do the ceremony in secret Garga produced fear in Nanda’s heart, but the word hantā actually means “going.” Being suspicious, he will come here immediately (tat). Anayaḥ means fault or obstacle. Naḥ is in the plural to indicate respect for the self in coming to perform the name giving of the Lord, or it indicates his relatives as well. Or tat means therefore. Because of the saṁskāra, Kaṁsa will become suspicious.