Devanagari
तस्यां स जनयां चक्र आत्मजामसितेक्षणाम् ।
यवीयस: सप्त सुतान् सप्त द्रविडभूभृत: ॥ ३० ॥
Verse text
tasyāṁ sa janayāṁ cakra
ātmajām asitekṣaṇām
yavīyasaḥ sapta sutān
sapta draviḍa-bhūbhṛtaḥ
Synonyms
tasyām
—
through her
;
saḥ
—
the King
;
janayām cakre
—
begot
;
ātmajām
—
daughter
;
asita
—
blue or black
;
īkṣaṇām
—
whose eyes
;
yavīyasaḥ
—
younger, very powerful
;
sapta
—
seven
;
sutān
—
sons
;
sapta
—
seven
;
draviḍa
—
province of Draviḍa, or South India
;
bhū
—
of the land
;
bhṛtaḥ
—
kings .
Translation
King Malayadhvaja fathered one daughter, who had very black eyes. He also had seven sons, who later became rulers of that tract of land known as Draviḍa. Thus there were seven kings in that land.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
In her, he begot a daughter named Asiteksaṇā and seven younger sons who became kings of seven southern provinces.
Asitekṣaṇā was the daughter’s name. It can also mean she who received the glance of Kṛṣṇa (asita). Thus it means one who has a taste for serving Kṛṣṇa. By the mercy of guru, the jīva develops a taste for serving Kṛṣṇa. The seven sons were born later. They are hearing, remembering, chanting, serving the lotus feet, deity worship, bowing down and servitude. Because friendship and full surrender are difficult in the beginning, and will appear spontaneously later, they are not mentioned. The sons were kings of the southern provinces. The southern provinces are renowned for prominence of bhakti, hearing and chanting. The seven processes ruled like kings, having subdued karma, jṣāna and other processes.
Purport
King Malayadhvaja was a great devotee, and after he married the daughter of King Vidarbha, he gave her one nice daughter, whose eyes were black. Figuratively this means that the daughter of King Malayadhvaja was also bestowed with devotional service, for her eyes were always fixed on Kṛṣṇa. A devotee has no vision in his life other than Kṛṣṇa. The seven sons are the seven processes of devotional service — hearing, chanting, remembering, offering worship, offering prayers, rendering transcendental loving service and serving the lotus feet of the Lord. Of the nine types of devotional service, only seven were immediately given. The balance — friendship and surrendering everything — were to be developed later. In other words, devotional service is divided into two categories, namely
vidhi-mārga
and
rāga-mārga.
The process of becoming friends with the Lord and sacrificing everything for Him belongs to the category of
rāga-mārga,
the stage of developed devotional service. For the neophyte, the important processes are those of hearing and chanting (
śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam
), remembering Kṛṣṇa, worshiping the Deity in the temple, offering prayers, always engaging in the service of the Lord, and worshiping the lotus feet of the Lord.
The word
yavīyasaḥ
indicates that these processes are very powerful. After a devotee engages in the processes of
śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam/ arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyam,
and is able to secure these processes, he can later become a devotee capable of rendering spontaneous devotional service, namely
sakhyam
and
ātma-nivedanam.
Generally the great
ācāryas
who preach devotional service all over the world belong to the category of
sakhyam ātma-nivedanam.
A neophyte devotee cannot actually become a preacher. The neophyte is advised to execute devotional service in the seven other fields (
śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam,
etc.). If one can successfully execute the preliminary seven items, he can in the future be situated on the platform of
sakhyam ātma-nivedanam.
The specific mention of Draviḍa-deśa refers to the five Draviḍa-deśas in South India. All are very strong in rendering the preliminary devotional processes (
śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam
). Some great
ācāryas,
like Rāmānujācārya and Madhvācārya, also came from Draviḍa-deśa and became great preachers. They were all situated on the platform of
sakhyam ātma-nivedanam.