Canto 10: The Summum BonumChapter 36: The Slaying of Arista, the Bull Demon

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.36.3-4

yasya nirhrāditenāńga

niṣṭhureṇa gavāḿ nṛṇām

patanty akālato garbhāḥ

sravanti sma bhayena vai

nirviśanti ghanā yasya

kakudy acala-śańkayā

taḿ tīkṣṇa-śṛńgam udvīkṣya

gopyo gopāś ca tatrasuḥ

SYNONYMS

yasya — whose; nirhrāditena — by the reverberating sound; ańga — my dear King (Parīkṣit); niṣṭhureṇa — rough; gavām — of cows; nṛṇām — of humans; patanti — fall; akālataḥ — untimely; garbhāḥ — the embryos; sravanti smaare miscarried; bhayena — out of fear; vai — indeed; nirviśanti — enter; ghanāḥ — clouds; yasya — whose; kakudi — onto the hump; acalaas a mountain; śańkayā — by the mistaken identification; tam — him; tīkṣṇa — sharp; śṛńgam — whose horns; udvīkṣya — seeing; gopyaḥ — the cowherd women; gopāḥ — the cowherd men; ca — and; tatrasuḥ — became frightened.

TRANSLATION

My dear King, clouds hovered about sharp-horned Ariṣṭāsura's hump, mistaking it for a mountain, and when the cowherd men and ladies caught sight of the demon, they were struck with terror. Indeed, the strident reverberation of his roar so frightened the pregnant cows and women that they lost their fetuses in miscarriages.

PURPORT

The Vedic literature categorizes miscarriages as follows: ā-caturthād bhavet srāvaḥ pātaḥ pañcama-ṣaṣṭhayoḥ/ ata ūrdhvaḿ prasūtiḥ syāt. "Up to the fourth month a premature delivery is called srāva, in the fifth and sixth months it is called pāta, and after this it is considered a birth (prasūti)."

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