tadā śucas te pramṛjāmi bhadre yad brahma-bandhoḥ śira ātatāyinaḥ gāṇḍīva-muktair viśikhair upāhare tvā''kramya yat snāsyasi dagdha-putrā
Synonyms
tadā—at that time only; śucaḥ—tears in grief; te—your; pramṛjāmi—shall wipe out; bhadre—oh the geetle lady; yat—when; brahma-bandhoḥ—of the one who is degraded amongst the Brahmins; śiraḥ—head; ātatāyinaḥ—of the aggressor; gāṇḍīva-muktaiḥ—shooted by the bow named Gandiva; viśikhaiḥ—by the arrows; upāhare—shall present to you; tvā—yourself; ākramya—riding on it; yat—which; snāsyasi—take your bath; dagdha-putrā—after burning the sons.
Translation
Oh gentle lady when I shall bring about the head of the Brahmin after beheading him with arrows of my Gandiba bow and shall present it before you, at that time only I shall wipe out your tears in the eyes inorder to pacify you and you can tako bath standing on it after burning your sons' body.
Purport
An enemy, who sets fire in the house, administers poison for eating, attacks all of a sudden with sharpen weapons, and plunders away wealth or usurps agricultural fields and entices one's wife is called an aggressor. Such aggressor though he may be a brahmin or the so called son of a Brahmin, has to be punished in all circumstances. When Arjuna promised to behead such aggressor namely Aswatthama he knew it well that Aswatthama was a son of Brahmin but because the so-called Brahmin acted like a butcher, he was taken as such and there was no question of sin for killing such a Brahmin's son who proved to be a villain.