bhadrāśvaṁ ketumālaṁ ca bhārataṁ cottarān kurūn kimpuruṣādīni varṣāṇi vijitya jagṛhe balim
Synonyms
bhadrāśvam—everywhere the King visited; ketumālam—continuously he heard; ca—about his own forefathers; bhāratam—who were all great devotees of the Lord; ca—unto those who were thus addressing; uttarān—also; kurūn—glories; kimpuruṣa-ādīni—lord Krishna; varṣāṇi—glorious acts. Suchakam—indicating; vijitya—his parsonal self; jagṛhe—also; balim—delivered; Aswatthamno—of Aswatthama; Astra—weapon; Tejasah—powerful rays; Sneham—affection; Cha—also; Vrishniparthanam—between the descendants of Vrishni and that of Pritha; Tesam—of all of them; Bhaktim—devotion; Cha—also; Kesave—Unto lord Krishna; Tebhyah—unto them; Parama—extremely; Santustah—pleased; Priti—attraction; Ujjrimbhito—pleasingly open; Iochanah—one who has such eyes; Mahadhanai—valuable riches; Vasanani—clothings; Dadou—gave in charity; Haran—necklace; Mahamanah—one who has broader outlook.
Translation
Wherevever the king visited, continuously he heard about the glories of his great forefathers who were all devotees of the Lord indicating herein about the glorious acts of Lord Krishna also. He also heard about his personal self as to how he was protected by the Lord from the powerful heat of the weapon of Aswatthama. The addressers also mentioned about the great affection between the descendants of Vrishni and that of Pritha on account of the latter's great devotion for the Lord Keshava. The king thus being very much pleased upon the singers of such glories had his eyes open in great satisfaction and he was pleased to award upon the singers very valuable necklaces and clothings by his magnanimous mind.
Purport
Bhadraswa : It is an island near about the Meru Parvat. And about this island there is a description in the Mahabharatam (Bhisma Parva7/16-18). The description was narrated by Samjaya to Dhritarastra.
Maharaj Yudhisthir also conquered this island and thus the province was included within the jurisdiction of his empire. Maharaj Parikshit was formerly declared to be the emperor of all lands ruled by his grand-father but still he had to establish his supermacy while he was out of his capital for exacting tributes from such states.
Ketumala : This earth planet is divided into seven parts and according to others it is divided into nine parts. This earth is called Jambudwipa and is divided into nine Varsas. Bharat Varsa is one of the abovementioned nine varsas. Such Varsas are known as continents in the modern geographical context. Ketumala is described to be one of the above Varsas. It is said that in this varsa the women as a class are the most beautiful species of fair sex and it was conquered by Arjuna also. Description of this part of the world is available in the Mahabharata (Sabha 28/6)
It is said that this part of world is situated on the western side of the Meru Parvat and inhabitants of this province used to live up to ten thousands of years (Bhisma Parva 6/16.31-32) Human being living in this part of the globe are of golden colour and the women resemble the angels of heaven. The inhabitants are free from all kinds of diseases and berievements.
Bharatvarsa : This part of the world is also one of the nine Varsas of the Jambudwipa earthly planet. Each planet is also some times called as Dwipa on account of its being an island in the fathomless outer space. Each planet is factually an island in the airy ocean of outer space. Jambudwipa is one of such countless islands in the airy ocean of the outer space. Description of Bharatvarsa is given in the Mahabharata (Bhisma Parva chapters 9 to 10)
Uttaran—According to Sridharswami these parts of the world is called Ilavrita Varsa or the Meditarian countries of Europe. The description of the Ilavritavarsa is given in the Mahabarata (Sabha 28/6-7) as follows ;—
Nagarascha vanamcha va nadischa vimalodakah
Purushan deva kalpanscha Narishca priyadarshanah
Adristapurvan subhagan sa dadarsa dhananjayah
Sadanamcha subhrani Narischa apsasasamnibha
It is twice mentioned here about the women as all beautiful and some of them equal to the Apsaras as the heavenly women. Therefore the countries mentioned are round about the Meditarian coasts.
Kimpurisavarsa. Is stated to be situated beyond the northern side of Darjeeling Dhavala Giri and probably may be the countries like Nepal Bhutan Tibet and China. These parts of the world was also conquered by Arjuna (Sabha 28/1-2) The Kimpurusas are descendants of the daughter of Daksha. When Maharaj Yudhisthir performed horse sacrifice Yajna the inhabitants of these countries were also present to take part in the festival and they paid tributes to the emperor. This part of the world is called Kimpurusavarsa or sometims the Himaalayan provinces (Haimavat) It is said Sukdeva Goswami was born in these Himalayan provinces and he came to Bharatvarsa after crossing the Himalayan countries.
In other words Maharaj Parikshit conquered all over the world namely all the continents adjoining all the seas and oceans in all direction namely the east, west, north and southern parts of the world.
Kings and the like great personalities of the state are presented with welcome addresses, is a system from time immemorial and Maharaj Parikshit, as he was one of the well known emperors of the world, was also presented with addresses of welcome every where in all parts of the world as he visited those places. The subject matter of those welcome addresses was Krishna. Krishana means Krishna and His eternal devotees as much the king means the king and his confidential associates.
Krishna and His unalloyed devotees cannot be separated and therefore glorifying the devotee means glorifying the Lord and vice versa. Maharaj Parikshit would not have been too glad to hear about the glories of his forefathers like Maharaj Yudhisthir and Arjuna etc had it not been so done in connection with the acts of Lord Krishna. The Lord descends specifically for deliverance of His devotees (paritranaya sadhunam) and the devotees are glorified by the presence of the Lord because such devotees cannot live for a moment without the presence of the Lord by His different energies. The Lord is present fore the devotee by His acts and glories and therefore Maharaj Parikshit felt the presence of the Lord when He was glorified by His acts specially in the matter of his personal self as he was saved by the Lord in the womb of his mother. The devotees of the Lord are never in danger; but in the material world which is full of dangers in every step, the devotees are apparently placed into dangerous position and thus being saved by the Lord the Lord is glorified. Lord Krishna would not have been glorified as the speaker of the Bhagwat Geeta had his devotees like the Pandavas were not entangled in the battlefield of Kurukshetra. All such acts of the Lord were mentioned in the addresses of welcome and Maharaj Parikshit, in full satisfaction, rewarded those who presented such addresses. The difference between the presentation of welcome addresses in the modern days and that in the days gone by is that formerly the welcome addresses were presented to a penson like Maharaj Pearikshit ; the welcome addresses were full of facts and figures and those who presented such addresses were sufficiently rewarded ; whereas in the present days the welcome address is presented not always with factual statements but to please the postholder and sometimes they are full with untruth for flattering the object but alas rarely such presentations of welcome addresses are rewarded by the poor receiver.