śrī-śuka uvāca
yo 'ntyaḥ purañjayo nāma
bhaviṣyo bārahadrathaḥ
tasyāmātyas tu śunako
hatvā svāminam ātma-jam
pradyota-saḿjñaḿ rājānaḿ
kartā yat-pālakaḥ sutaḥ
viśākhayūpas tat-putro
bhavitā rājakas tataḥ
sri sukah uvaca -- Sri Sukadeva Gosvami said; yah -- who; antyah -- the final member (of the lineage described in the Ninth Canto); puranjayah -- Puranjaya (Ripunjaya); nama -- named; bhavishyah -- will live in the future; barahadrathah -- the descendant of Brihadratha; tasya -- his; amatyah -- minister; tu -- but; sunakah -- Sunaka; hatva -- killing; svaminam -- his master; atma-jam -- his own son; pradyota-samjnam -- named Pradyota; rajanam -- the king; karta -- will make; yat -- whose; palakah -- named Palaka; sutah -- the son; visakhayupah -- Visakhayupa; tat-putrah -- the son of Palaka; bhavita -- will be; rajakah -- Rajaka; tatah -- then (coming as the son of Visakhayupa).
Sukadeva Gosvami said: The last king mentioned in our previous enumeration of the future rulers of the Magadha dynasty was Puranjaya, who will take birth as the descendant of Brihadratha. Puranjaya's minister Sunaka will assassinate the king and install his own son, Pradyota, on the throne. The son of Pradyota will be Palaka, his son will be Visakhayupa, and his son will be Rajaka.
The vicious political intrigue described here is symptomatic of the age of Kali. In the Ninth Canto of this work, Sukadeva Gosvami 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 Ramacandra, a most famous incarnation of God, occurs in this genealogical narration, and at the end of the Ninth Canto Sukadeva describes the forefathers of Lord Krishna and Lord Balarama. Finally, the appearance of Lord Krishna and that of Lord Balarama are mentioned within the context of the narration of the moon dynasty.
The Tenth Canto is devoted exclusively to a description of Lord Krishna's childhood pastimes in Vrindavana, His teenage activities in Mathura and His adult activities in Dvaraka. The famous epic Mahabharata also describes the events of this period, focusing upon the five Pandava brothers and their activities in relation with Lord Krishna and other leading historical figures, such as Bhishma, Dhritarashtra, Dronacarya and Vidura. Within the Mahabharata is Bhagavad-gita, in which Lord Krishna is declared to be the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Srimad-Bhagavatam, of which we are presently translating the twelfth and final canto, is considered a more advanced literature than the Mahabharata because throughout the entire work Lord Sri Krishna, the Absolute Truth and supreme source of all existence, is directly, centrally and irrefutably revealed. In fact, the First Canto of the Bhagavatam describes how Sri Vyasadeva composed this great work because he was dissatisfied with his rather sporadic glorification of Lord Krishna in the Mahabharata.
Although Srimad-Bhagavatam 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 Dhritarashtra's attempt to assassinate the Pandavas and crown his son Duryodhana king. As the Mahabharata describes, Lord Krishna 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.
