Devanagari
वज्रस्तु तत्कन्धरमाशुवेग:
कृन्तन् समन्तात् परिवर्तमान: ।
न्यपातयत् तावदहर्गणेन
यो ज्योतिषामयने वार्त्रहत्ये ॥ ३३ ॥
Verse text
vajras tu tat-kandharam āśu-vegaḥ
kṛntan samantāt parivartamānaḥ
nyapātayat tāvad ahar-gaṇena
yo jyotiṣām ayane vārtra-hatye
Synonyms
vajraḥ
—
the thunderbolt
;
tu
—
but
;
tat
—
kandharam — his neck
;
āśu
—
vegaḥ — although very fast
;
kṛntan
—
cutting
;
samantāt
—
all around
;
parivartamānaḥ
—
revolving
;
nyapātayat
—
caused to fall
;
tāvat
—
so many
;
ahaḥ
—
gaṇena — by days
;
yaḥ
—
which
;
jyotiṣām
—
of the luminaries like the sun and moon
;
ayane
—
in moving to both sides of the equator
;
vārtra
—
hatye — at the time suitable for killing Vṛtrāsura .
Translation
Although the thunderbolt revolved around Vṛtrāsura’s neck with great speed, separating his head from his body took one complete year — 360 days, the time in which the sun, moon and other luminaries complete a northern and southern journey. Then, at the suitable time for Vṛtrāsura to be killed, his head fell to the ground.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Although the thunderbolt revolved around and cut Vṛtrāsura's neck with great speed, his head fell of only after the time it took the sun, moon and other luminaries to complete a northern and southern journey, at a time suitable for killing him.
Although the thunderbolt moved quickly and cut all around his neck--not just in one place, since it was very tough--the head, after being cut off, fell to the ground only after a year, after the planets moved through the northern and southern courses. Vārtra-hatye means “at a time suitable for slaying Vṛtrāsura.” Or the suffix ya on hatye may be derived from daṇḍādibhyo yaḥ (Pāṇini 5.1.66). It is added to the words with the meaning “deserving.” Thus the phrase then means “deserving to kill Vṛtrāsura, or for the purpose of killing him.”