Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.55.3
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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śambaraḥ
—
the demon Śambara
An asura skilled in māyā (later v.14, v.21). Gauḍīyas read each named demon as a personified obstruction to bhakti — Śambara is illusion that disguises and isolates the bhakta-aṁśa from his rightful family. The cure will be Mahā-māyā given by Rati.
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kāma-rūpī
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able to assume any form he desired
Compound: kāma (desire, will) + rūpī (form-taker). Note the irony — Śambara who controls forms abducts Kāma Himself. Demonic shape-shifting versus divine svarūpa: the demon's forms are masks, the Lord's are svayaṁ-prakāśa.
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aniḥ-daśam
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not yet ten days old
Compound: an-iḥ (without) + daśam (the tenth). Pre-daśāha — before the tenth-day naming rite. By Vedic dharma the child is barely admitted to the world; the cruelty of stealing Him at that moment underlines Śambara's adharma.
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udanvati
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into the sea
Locative of udanvant (ocean-having). Where Viṣṇu reclines (kṣīrodaka-śāyī), Śambara casts Viṣṇu's own son — and the sea, the Lord's own bed, refuses to harm Him. Gauḍīya hearing: the elements are dāsas of Bhagavān, no matter who tries to deploy them.
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ātmanaḥ-śatrum
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his own enemy
Compound (genitive + accusative): ātmanaḥ (his own) + śatrum (enemy). Śambara has been warned by prophecy that this infant will slay him. The demon's foreknowledge does not produce surrender, only escalation — the asura signature throughout Bhāgavatam (cf. Kaṁsa, Hiraṇyakaśipu).
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī points out that according to the Viṣṇu Purāṇa, Pradyumna was kidnapped on the sixth day after His birth.
Sambara stole the infant before he was less than ten days old. Visnu purana says he stole him on the sixth day after birth. Sambara knew Kamadeva was his enemy, because he learned from Narada that Kamadeva wanted to kill him.
The surprising nature of Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes is described till the end of the chapter. Śambara could assume any form he desired, by his power of illusion, such as a nurse, in order to steal the child. Pradyumna was stolen on the six day after his birth (anirdaśam). ṣaṣṭhehni jātamātraṁ tu pradyumnaṁ sūtikāgṛhāt / mamaiṣa hanteti mune hṛtavānkālaśaṁbaraḥ // O sage! On the sixth day after birth Kalāśambara stole Pradyumna from the confinement room since he recognized him as his killer. Śambara was informed that an enemy would kill him by Nārada or some knowledgeable fortune teller, who desired that evil Śamgara be killed. He then began looking for that person. Hari-vaṁśa says: viditaṁ tac ca kṛṣṇasya deva-māyānuvartinaḥ / tato na nigṛhītaḥ sa dānavo yuddha-durmadaḥ // The demon, intoxicated with fighting spirit, by the influence of the Lord’s māyā, understood that Pradyumna was the enemy, and was not prevented from taking him.
His glories are described in the rest of the chapter. Śambara means he who produced his own auspicious death. He stole Pradyumna. He could assume any form, like a nurse. He could steal the child, because the child was not even ten days old, a bady (tokam). ṣaṣṭhehni jātamātraṁ tu pradyumnaṁ sūtikāgṛhāt / mamaiṣa hanteti mune hṛtavānkālaśaṁbaraḥ // O sage! On the sixth day after birth Kalāśambara stole Pradyumna from the confinement room since he recognized him as his killer. Visṇu Purāṇa Śambara was informed that an enemy would kill him by Nārada, he knew that Pradyumna desired to kill him. Thus he took Pradyumna as an enemy. He threw him with effort, far way (prāsya), deep in the ocean. All this was by the desire of the Lord. Otherwise it could not happen. viditaṁ tac ca kṛṣṇasya deva-māyānuvartinaḥ / tato na nigṛhītaḥ sa dānavo yuddha-durmadaḥ // The demon, intoxicated with fighting spirit, by the influence of the Lord’s māyā, understood that Pradyumna was the enemy, and was not prevented from taking him. Hari-vaṁṣa
- What part of your spiritual development was 'kidnapped' before it could defend itself?
- How do you protect what is newly born in you?
An infant ten days unborn from his cradle, hurled into the sea by a shape-shifting demon — the Lord's own son consents to be carried by waves. Bhagavān permits His expansions to be 'lost' so that the līlā of recovery can be staged; nothing about the loss is accidental.
Canto 10.3 records another infant transit through dangerous waters: Vasudeva carrying baby Kṛṣṇa across the swollen Yamunā at midnight, with Śeṣa's hood arched overhead as canopy and the river parting to let father pass. There, the Lord's own movement is protected by the elements.
Here, the reverse: Pradyumna is hurled into the sea by an enemy, no canopy, no parting. The Bhāgavatam stages both — the carried Lord and the cast-away Lord — so that the reader learns that both pictures belong to the same sovereignty.
My note
Source: vedabase.io