Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.66.9
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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kaṅka-gṛdhra-vaṭaiḥ
—
by herons, vultures, and vaṭa birds
Compound enumerating the carrion-eaters. Gauḍīyas note the meticulous specificity of Bhāgavata curses — the verse rehearses the body's actual destiny when ahaṅkāra goes unchecked. The poetry refuses euphemism.
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śayiṣyase
—
you will lie (down)
Future middle of √śī (to lie down). The same verbal root that gives śayana (the Lord's resting posture on Śeṣa). Pauṇḍroaka wanted to be like the Lord lying on Śeṣa; he will instead lie on the battlefield with birds for his canopy.
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śaraṇam
—
shelter
Returns from verse 6 with savage irony. There Pauṇḍraka demanded Kṛṣṇa take śaraṇa of him. Here Kṛṣṇa grants it: 'you will become śaraṇa — for dogs.' The whole chapter's theology of false vs. true śaraṇāgati is compressed into this one word's double appearance.
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śunām
—
for dogs
Genitive plural of śvan. In Manu and the Dharma-śāstras, the dog is the limit-case of low birth and inauspicious contact. The man who would not take śaraṇa of Mukunda becomes shelter to the lowest creature instead — the Bhāgavata's harsh arithmetic of pretension.
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hataḥ
—
killed
Past participle of √han. A single word, future-perfect in force: 'when you lie dead.' Kṛṣṇa speaks the outcome before the battle, because to Him the battle is already over.
Pauṇḍraka foolishly told the Supreme Lord to come to him for shelter, but here Lord Kṛṣṇa tells him, “You are not My shelter, but rather you will become the shelter of dogs when they happily feast on your dead body.” Śrīla Prabhupāda vividly describes this scene as follows: “[Lord Kṛṣṇa told Pauṇḍraka, “When I shall destroy you,] foolish King, you will then have to conceal your face in disgrace, and when your head is severed from your body by My disc, it will be surrounded by meat-eating birds like vultures, hawks and eagles. At that time, instead of becoming My shelter, as you have demanded, you will be subject to the mercy of these lowborn birds. At that time your body will be thrown to the dogs, who will eat it with great pleasure.’”
You said that you would surrender to me. That fate will be accomplished with surrender to dogs and not others. After speaking like this, after turning your face downwards when you fall, cover it with sand and lie down dead. Other people when sleeping cover their faces with cloth. The vultures and herons will be your assistants at that time. The vaṭa is a bird with a sharp beak that loves to eat meat. Another meaning by joining this verse with the previous verse is “I will throw my weapons at you and they will make you lie down dead. Those weapons about which you boasted will cover your face.”
- What worldly shelter am I trusting to outlast me?
- What would it mean to take real shelter in Kṛṣṇa today?
The man who wanted Kṛṣṇa to take śaraṇa of him will instead become śaraṇa of street-dogs. Bhagavān grants exactly the prayer that was offered — only the audience is corrected. Pauṇḍraka asked to be a shelter; he will be one, for vultures and hounds.
My note
Source: vedabase.io