tayÄbhihitam Äkarṇya
kaá¹saḥ parama-vismitaḥ
devakīṠvasudevaṠca
vimucya praśrito 'bravīt
tayÄ - by the goddess DurgÄ; abhihitam - the words spoken; Äkarṇya - by hearing; kaá¹saḥ - Kaá¹sa; parama-vismitaḥ - was struck with wonder; devakÄ«m - unto DevakÄ«; vasudevam ca - and Vasudeva; vimucya - releasing immediately; praÅ›ritaḥ - with great humility; abravÄ«t - spoke as follows.
After hearing the words of the goddess DurgÄ, Kaá¹sa was struck with wonder. Thus he approached his sister DevakÄ« and brother-in-law Vasudeva, released them immediately from their shackles, and very humbly spoke as follows.
Kaá¹sa was astonished because the goddess DurgÄ had become the daughter of DevakÄ«. Since DevakÄ« was a human being, how could the goddess DurgÄ become her daughter? This was one cause of his astonishment. Also, how is it that the eighth child of DevakÄ« was a female? This also astonished him. Asuras are generally devotees of mother DurgÄ, Åšakti, or of demigods, especially Lord Åšiva. The appearance of DurgÄ in her original eight-armed feature, holding various weapons, immediately changed Kaá¹sa’s mind about Devakī’s being an ordinary human. DevakÄ« must have had some transcendental qualities; otherwise why would the goddess DurgÄ have taken birth from her womb? Under the circumstances, Kaá¹sa, struck with wonder, wanted to compensate for his atrocities against his sister DevakÄ«.
