Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.70.24
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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sannatim
—
complete subservience
Saṁ-nati — full bowing, total submission. The kings refused to bow to Jarāsandha and were imprisoned for it. The Gauḍīya reading: refusal to bow to any but Bhagavān may bring worldly imprisonment, but it is the only correct refusal.
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giri-vraje
—
in the fortress (city) of Girivraja
Girivraja, Jarāsandha's capital in Magadha (modern Rajgir), is the geography of bondage in this chapter. Kṛṣṇa will eventually enter it with Bhīma and Arjuna (SB 10.71-72) to undo it from inside.
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ayute dve
—
twenty thousand
Twenty thousand kings, each with his own retinue — the scale shows Jarāsandha's reach. Bhagavān's intervention, when it comes, will not be small either; the magnitude of bondage measures the magnitude of mercy needed.
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prasahya ruddhāḥ
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forcibly imprisoned
Prasahya — by force. Saṁsāra too holds the jīva by force: the body, the mind, the karma-pāśa. The kings' imprisonment is a literalization of every jīva's predicament.
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī points out that these kings refused the payment of tribute and other forms of submission to Jarāsandha. Also, there is a well-known account in the Mahābhārata and other literatures that Jarāsandha desired to worship Mahā-bhairava by offering him the lives of one hundred thousand kings in sacrifice.
How did Jarasandha imprison the kings? This verse answers. They did not accept subservience to him (sannatim) by paying taxes etc. Therefore he imprisoned them in Girivraja fort. How many? Twenty thousand (dve ayute) were imprisoned. It is learned from Mahabharata and other sources that he had the desire to perform a sacrifice to Mahabhairava by offering one hundred thousand kings.
The kings are described. They did not become very submissive (sannatim) to him and were thus imprisoned by Jarāsandha. The reason is described to the Lord to Yudhiṣṭhira: sa hi rājā jarāsandho yiyakṣur vasudhādhipaih Mahādevaṁ mahātmānam umāpatim arindama Jarāsandha wanted to perform a sacrifice to Śiva, using all the kings. Mahābhārata
The kings, because they did not become submissive (sannatim) to Jarāsandha, had been imprisoned by him. Or “Who were the kings?” They were those who had did not submit. The reason is described by the Lord to Yudhiṣṭhira: sa hi rājā jarāsandho yiyakṣur vasudhādhipaih Mahādevaṁ mahātmānam umāpatim arindama Jarāsandha wanted to perform a sacrifice to Śiva, using all the kings. Mahābhārata
- What collective suffering am I aware of but distant from?
- What small step could I take to be on the right side of that story?
Twenty thousand kings packed inside the fortress of Girivraja are the human race in saṁsāra in miniature — each a sovereign in his own mind, yet collectively a prisoner. Jarāsandha is the principle of bondage; Kṛṣṇa, the principle of release.
In SB 9.22 and the Mahābhārata Sabhā-parva, Jarāsandha was born in two halves to two queens, joined together by the demoness Jarā — hence his name 'one who is joined by Jarā.' Cursed by Yavanarāja's lineage, he becomes Kṛṣṇa's sworn enemy and the kṣatriya-haṁsa-killer of his age.
He represents bound-together-by-Jarā — the very name suggests how saṁsāra holds together by old-age and death. His twenty-thousand prisoners await release the way conditioned souls await mokṣa.
My note
Source: vedabase.io