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Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.17.29
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A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 29
- taṁ jighāṁsum abhipretya
- vihāya nṛpa-lāñchanam
- tat-pāda-mūlaṁ śirasā
- samagād bhaya-vihvalaḥ
tamhim — him; jighāṁsumwilling to kill — willing to kill; abhipretyaknowing it well — knowing it well; vihāyaleaving aside — leaving aside; nṛpathe dress of a king-lāñchanamthe dress of a king — the dress of a king; tatat his feet-pādaat his feet-mūlamat his feet — at his feet; śirasāby the head — by the head; samagātfully surrendered — fully surrendered; bhayaunder pressure of fearfulness-vihvalaḥunder pressure of fearfulness — under pressure of fearfulness.
When the personality of Kali understood that the King was willing to kill him, he at once abandoned the dress of a king and, under pressure of fear, completely surrendered to him, bowing his head.
The royal dress of the personality of Kali is artificial. The royal dress is suitable for a king or kṣatriya, but when a lower-class man artificially dresses himself as a king, his real identity is disclosed by the challenge of a bona fide kṣatriya like Mahārāja Parīkṣit. A real kṣatriya never surrenders. He accepts the challenge of his rival kṣatriya, and he fights either to die or to win. Surrender is unknown to a real kṣatriya. In the age of Kali there are so many pretenders dressed and posed like administrators or executive heads, but their real identity is disclosed when they are challenged by a real kṣatriya. Therefore when the artificially dressed personality of Kali saw that to fight Mahārāja Parīkṣit was beyond his ability, he bowed down his head like a subordinate and gave up his royal dress.