kapāla-khaṭvāṅga-dharaṁ
atriḥ sandarśayām āsa
tvaramāṇaṁ vihāyasā
kapāla-khaṭvāṅga-dharaṁ
vīro nainam abādhata
Atri saw him moving quickly in the sky. Pṛthu’s son did not kill him since he was carrying a staff with skull on top.
|| 4.19.21 ||
atriṇā coditas tasmai
sandadhe viśikhaṁ ruṣā
so 'śvaṁ rūpaṁ ca tad dhitvā
tasthāv antarhitaḥ svarāṭ
Ordered by Atri, he fixed an arrow on his bow with anger. Giving up the horse and the disguise, Indra became invisible.
|| 4.19.22 ||
vīraś cāśvam upādāya
pitṛ-yajñam athāvrajat
tad avadyaṁ hare rūpaṁ
jagṛhur jñāna-durbalāḥ
Taking the horse, Pṛthu’s son returned to the sacrifice of his father. Foolish people after that adopted the despicable dress of Indra who was not killed.
Foolish persons think that because Indra was not killed by Pṛthu’s son, they also cannot be killed. Starting their own sampradaya which propagated ideas to spoil sacrifice, they desired to define the goal as powers like stealing others’ wealth and disappearing as their goal.
|| 4.19.23 ||
yāni rūpāṇi jagṛhe
indro haya-jihīrṣayā
tāni pāpasya khaṇḍāni
liṅgaṁ khaṇḍam ihocyate
Whatever forms Indra accepted for stealing the horse, those became symbols or khaṇḍa of sin. Thus those persons are called pākhaṇḍas or pāṣaṇḍas.
This verse derives the meaning of pākhāṇḍa (heretic). The plural is used to indicate that many varieties of pāṣaṇdaṣ appeared.
|| 4.19.24-25 ||
evam indre haraty aśvaṁ
vainya-yajña-jighāṁsayā
tad-gṛhīta-visṛṣṭeṣu
pākhaṇḍeṣu matir nṛṇām
dharma ity upadharmeṣu
nagna-rakta-paṭādiṣu
prāyeṇa sajjate bhrāntyā
peśaleṣu ca vāgmiṣu
When Indra stole the horse with a desire to stop the sacrifice of Pṛthu, people’s minds became attracted to those disguises of heretics which he assumed and rejected, thinking by mistake that these resemblances to dharma, in the form of going naked, wearing red cloth and speaking skillfully, were real dharma.
The foolish became attracted to the clothing which Indra accepted and later rejected. “Naked persons” refers to the Jains. “Wearing red cloth” refers to the Buddhists. Ādīṣu (etc.) refers to followers of Śiva who carry a skull and other as well. Upadharma means resembling dharma, but not dharma. They speak with instantly charming words (peśaleṣu vāgmiṣu), skilful at logic.
|| 4.19.26 ||
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