kalevaraṠparaśubhiś
chittvÄ tat te vrajaukasaḥ
dÅ«re ká¹£iptvÄvayavaÅ›o
nyadahan kÄá¹£á¹ha-veá¹£á¹itam
kalevaram - the gigantic body of PÅ«tanÄ; paraÅ›ubhiḥ - with the aid of axes; chittvÄ - after cutting to pieces; tat - that (body); te - all of those; vraja-okasaḥ - inhabitants of Vraja; dÅ«re - far, far away; ká¹£iptvÄ - after throwing; avayavaÅ›aḥ - different parts of the body, piece by piece; nyadahan - burned to ashes; kÄá¹£á¹ha-veá¹£á¹itam - covered by wood.
The inhabitants of Vraja cut the gigantic body of PÅ«tanÄ into pieces with the help of axes. Then they threw the pieces far away, covered them with wood and burned them to ashes.
It is the practice that after a snake has been killed, its body is cut into various pieces for fear that it may come to life again simply by interacting with air. Merely killing a serpent is not sufficient; after it is killed, it must be cut to pieces and burned, and then the danger will be over. PÅ«tanÄ resembled a great serpent, and therefore the cowherd men took the same precautions by burning her body to ashes.
