Å›rÄ«-Å›uka uvÄca
yo 'ntyaḥ purañjayo nÄma
bhaviá¹£yo bÄrahadrathaḥ
tasyÄmÄtyas tu Å›unako
hatvÄ svÄminam Ätma-jam
pradyota-saá¹jñaá¹ rÄjÄnaá¹
kartÄ yat-pÄlakaḥ sutaḥ
viÅ›ÄkhayÅ«pas tat-putro
bhavitÄ rÄjakas tataḥ

 Å›rÄ« Å›ukaḥ uvÄca - ÅšrÄ« Åšukadeva GosvÄmÄ« said; yaḥ - who; antyaḥ - the final member (of the lineage described in the Ninth Canto); purañjayaḥ - Purañjaya (Ripuñjaya); nÄma - named; bhaviá¹£yaḥ - will live in the future; bÄrahadrathaḥ - the descendant of Bá¹›hadratha; tasya - his; amÄtyaḥ - minister; tu - but; Å›unakaḥ - Åšunaka; hatvÄ - killing; svÄminam - his master; Ätma-jam - his own son; pradyota-saá¹jñam - named Pradyota; rÄjÄnam - the king; kartÄ - will make; yat - whose; pÄlakaḥ - named PÄlaka; sutaḥ - the son; viÅ›ÄkhayÅ«paḥ - ViÅ›ÄkhayÅ«pa; tat-putraḥ - the son of PÄlaka; bhavitÄ - will be; rÄjakaḥ - RÄjaka; tataḥ - then (coming as the son of ViÅ›ÄkhayÅ«pa).


Text

Åšukadeva GosvÄmÄ« said: The last king mentioned in our previous enumeration of the future rulers of the MÄgadha dynasty was Purañjaya, who will take birth as the descendant of Bá¹›hadratha. Purañjaya’s minister Åšunaka will assassinate the king and install his own son, Pradyota, on the throne. The son of Pradyota will be PÄlaka, his son will be ViÅ›ÄkhayÅ«pa, and his son will be RÄjaka.

Purport

The vicious political intrigue described here is symptomatic of the Age of Kali. In the Ninth Canto of this work, Åšukadeva GosvÄmÄ« describes how the great rulers of men descended from two royal dynasties, that of the sun and that of the moon. The Ninth Canto’s description of Lord RÄmacandra, a most famous incarnation of God, occurs in this genealogical narration, and at the end of the Ninth Canto Åšukadeva describes the forefathers of Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord BalarÄma. Finally, the appearance of Lord Kṛṣṇa and that of Lord BalarÄma are mentioned within the context of the narration of the moon dynasty.

The Tenth Canto is devoted exclusively to a description of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s childhood pastimes in Vá¹›ndÄvana, His teenage activities in MathurÄ and His adult activities in DvÄrakÄ. The famous epic MahÄbhÄrata also describes the events of this period, focusing upon the five PÄṇá¸ava brothers and their activities in relation with Lord Kṛṣṇa and other leading historical figures, such as BhÄ«á¹£ma, Dhá¹›tarÄṣṭra, DroṇÄcÄrya and Vidura. Within the MahÄbhÄrata is Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ, in which Lord Kṛṣṇa is declared to be the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam, of which we are presently translating the twelfth and final canto, is considered a more advanced literature than the MahÄbhÄrata because throughout the entire work Lord ÅšrÄ« Kṛṣṇa, the Absolute Truth and supreme source of all existence, is directly, centrally and irrefutably revealed. In fact, the First Canto of the BhÄgavatam describes how ÅšrÄ« VyÄsadeva composed this great work because he was dissatisfied with his rather sporadic glorification of Lord Kṛṣṇa in the MahÄbhÄrata.

Although ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam narrates the histories of many royal dynasties and the lives of innumerable kings, not until the description of the present age, the Age of Kali, do we find a minister assassinating his own king and installing his son on the throne. This incident resembles Dhá¹›tarÄṣṭra’s attempt to assassinate the PÄṇá¸avas and crown his son Duryodhana king. As the MahÄbhÄrata describes, Lord Kṛṣṇa thwarted this attempt, but with the departure of the Lord for the spiritual sky, the Age of Kali became fully manifested, ushering in political assassination within one’s own house as a standard technique.