हन्त्यसाधुर्मृगान्दीनान्वेनोऽसावित्यरौज्जनः ॥४०॥
sa Å›arÄsanam udyamya
mṛgayur vana-gocaraḥ
hanty asÄdhur má¹›gÄn dÄ«nÄn
veno 'sÄv ity arauj janaḥ
saḥ - that boy of the name Vena; Å›arÄsanam - his bow; udyamya - taking up; má¹›gayuḥ - the hunter; vana-gocaraḥ - going into the forest; hanti - used to kill; asÄdhuḥ - being very cruel; má¹›gÄn - deer; dÄ«nÄn - poor; venaḥ - Vena; asau - there he is; iti - thus; araut - would cry; janaḥ - all the people.
After fixing his bow and arrow, the cruel boy used to go to the forest and unnecessarily kill innocent deer, and as soon as he came all the people would cry, “Here comes cruel Vena! Here comes cruel Vena!â€
Kṣatriyas are allowed to hunt in the forest for the purpose of learning the killing art, not to kill animals for eating or for any other purpose. The kṣatriya kings were sometimes expected to cut off the head of a culprit in the state. For this reason the kṣatriyas were allowed to hunt in the forest. Because this son of King Aṅga, Vena, was born of a bad mother, he was very cruel, and he used to go to the forest and unnecessarily kill the animals. All the neighboring inhabitants would be frightened by his presence, and they would call, “Here comes Vena! Here comes Vena!†So from the beginning of his life he was fearful to the citizens.
