Svāyambhuva Manu Instructs Dhruva
Chapter Eleven
Svāyambhuva Manu Instructs Dhruva
|| 4.11.1 ||
maitreya uvāca
niśamya gadatām evam
ṛṣīṇāṁ dhanuṣi dhruvaḥ
sandadhe 'stram upaspṛśya
yan nārāyaṇa-nirmitam
Maitreya said: Here the words spoken by the sages, Dhruva, after performing ācamana, strung an arrow made by Nārāyaṇa on his bow.
In the Eleventh Chapter, Manu, seeing the destruction of the Yakṣas, stops Dhruva from killing them, after giving scriptural instructions.
The word vacaḥ should be supplied to make the phrase “the words spoken by the sages.”
|| 4.11.2 ||
sandhīyamāna etasmin
māyā guhyaka-nirmitāḥ
kṣipraṁ vineśur vidura
kleśā jñānodaye yathā
O Vidura! When he employed that Nārāyaṇa weapon, the illusion created by the Yakṣas suddenly disappeared just as suffering disappears with the dawn of knowledge.
Etasmin refers to the Nārāyaṇa weapon.
|| 4.11.3 ||
tasyārṣāstraṁ dhanuṣi prayuñjataḥ
suvarṇa-puṅkhāḥ kalahaṁsa-vāsasaḥ
viniḥsṛtā āviviśur dviṣad-balaṁ
yathā vanaṁ bhīma-ravāḥ śikhaṇḍinaḥ
When Dhruva fixed the weapon on his bow, golden arrows with feathers from swans fired out upon the enemy like the frightening sound of peacocks in the forest.
Ārṣāstram means the weapon of the sage (ṛṣi) Nārāyaṇa. The shaft and tip were gold. The feathers were from swans. The word śarāḥ (arrows) should be supplied.
|| 4.11.4 ||
tais tigma-dhāraiḥ pradhane śilī-mukhair
itas tataḥ puṇya-janā upadrutāḥ
tam abhyadhāvan kupitā udāyudhāḥ
suparṇam unnaddha-phaṇā ivāhayaḥ
Oppressed by the arrows with sharp points present everywhere on the battlefield, the Yakṣas angrily rushed at Dhruva with raised weapons, like snakes with raised hoods attacking Garuḍa.
|| 4.11.5 ||
sa tān pṛṣatkair abhidhāvato mṛdhe
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