SB 4.11.6 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

तान् हन्यमानानभिवीक्ष्य गुह्यका- ननागसश्चित्ररथेन भूरिश: । औत्तानपादिं कृपया पितामहो मनुर्जगादोपगत: सहर्षिभि: ॥ ६ ॥

Verse text

tān hanyamānān abhivīkṣya guhyakān anāgasaś citra-rathena bhūriśaḥ auttānapādiṁ kṛpayā pitāmaho manur jagādopagataḥ saharṣibhiḥ

Synonyms

tān — those Yakṣas ; hanyamānān — being killed ; abhivīkṣya — seeing ; guhyakān — the Yakṣas ; anāgasaḥ — offenseless ; citra — rathena — by Dhruva Mahārāja, who had a beautiful chariot ; bhūriśaḥ — greatly ; auttānapādim — unto the son of Uttānapāda ; kṛpayā — out of mercy ; pitā — mahaḥ — the grandfather ; manuḥ — Svāyambhuva Manu ; jagāda — gave instructions ; upagataḥ — approached ; saha — ṛṣibhiḥ — with great sages .

Translation

When Svāyambhuva Manu saw that his grandson Dhruva Mahārāja was killing so many of the Yakṣas who were not actually offenders, out of his great compassion he approached Dhruva with great sages to give him good instruction.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Seeing that many innocent Yakṣas were being killed by Dhruva, Svāyambhuva Manu, his grandfather, along with sages, approached Dhruva and spoke out of compassion.

Purport

Dhruva Mahārāja attacked Alakāpurī, the city of the Yakṣas, because his brother was killed by one of them. Actually only one of the citizens, not all of them, was guilty of killing his brother, Uttama. Dhruva Mahārāja, of course, took a very serious step when his brother was killed by the Yakṣas. War was declared, and the fighting was going on. This sometimes happens in present days also — for one man’s fault a whole state is sometimes attacked. This kind of wholesale attack is not approved by Manu, the father and lawgiver of the human race. He therefore wanted to stop his grandson Dhruva from continuing to kill the Yakṣa citizens who were not offenders.