Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.59.31
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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pāda - paṅkajam
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lotus feet
Compound: pāda + paṅkaja. The classical Vaiṣṇava destination — Bhūmi places her grandson at the feet that just removed his father's head. Gauḍīyas read it as the most precise definition of śaraṇāgati: the same hand that struck is the only safe shelter.
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prapanna - ārti - hara
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remover of the distress of those who surrender
Compound chain: prapanna (surrendered) + ārti (distress) + hara (remover). One of the most important Vaiṣṇava epithets — the Lord is defined by what He does for śaraṇāgatas. Bhūmi's plea is grammatically a name-recitation.
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hasta - paṅkajam
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Your lotus hand
Compound: hasta (hand) + paṅkaja. Now the hand, after the feet — Bhūmi asks for the same hand that struck Bhauma to rest on the head of Bhauma's son. The image is the chapter's tenderest.
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kalmaṣa - apaham
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remover of all sins
Compound: kalmaṣa (sin, defilement) + apaham (which takes away). Kalmaṣāpaha — a standard Vaiṣṇava epithet. The Lord's touch is itself prāyaścitta.
Here the earth-goddess seeks protection for her grandson, who has been frightened by all the terribly violent events that just took place.
After praising Krsna, Bhumi makes a request.
“Please say what should be done.” She does not mention her son’s name because he is wicked. “If he is wicked, even if he is your son, he should be killed.” He has approached you. He has surrendered to you. You should destroy the sorrow caused by his father, O destroyer of suffering for the surrendered! Therefore make him fearless. Place your hand on his head. “If I do that, then he will perform evil actions like his father.” That hand destroys all sin. By the power of the touch of your hand he will not commit offenses. The hand is compared to a lotus because it removes all suffering.
- Whose intercession could you offer for a relative's troubled descendant?
- How does explicitly asking for protection function?
A grandmother places the orphan in the king's lap — and the king, who is also the killer, becomes the protector in the same breath. Bhūmi's request for her grandson is the chapter's secret teaching: Bhagavān's hand can take and the same hand can shelter; surrender knows both grips as one.
After Nṛsiṁhadeva killed Hiraṇyakaśipu, Prahlāda did not ask for the kingdom — he asked the Lord to deliver his father (SB 7.10.14). The Lord assured him that twenty-one generations of his ancestors were already purified by his birth.
Bhūmi's prayer here echoes Prahlāda's structurally — a devotee related by blood to a slain demon, requesting shelter for the line. Gauḍīyas pair these: when one drop of bhakti enters a family, even its demoniac members are rescued.
My note
Source: vedabase.io