Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.72.17
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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ātithya
—
for receiving guests
From atithi — 'one who comes without an appointment'. The Vedic householder's duty is to honour an atithi regardless of identity. Kṛṣṇa walks straight into this duty.
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gṛha-medhinam
—
from the religious householder
Compound accusative. Gṛhamedhī — a householder who sustains the household yajñas. Jarāsandha qualifies; his impiety lies elsewhere (the dungeon of kings), not in his domestic dharma.
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brahmaṇyam
—
respectful to brāhmaṇas
Accusative. Brahmaṇya is a key kingly virtue — the king who honours brāhmaṇas. Jarāsandha was famously so. Kṛṣṇa's strategy is to turn that virtue into the doorway.
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brahma-liṅginaḥ
—
appearing with the signs of brāhmaṇas
Compound nominative. Recurs from verse 16. The disguise is not flimsy — it is the Lord's pravṛtti for this līlā.
Śrīla Prabhupāda writes: “King Jarāsandha was a very dutiful householder, and he had great respect for the brāhmaṇas. He was a great fighter, a kṣatriya king, but he was never neglectful of the Vedic injunctions. According to Vedic injunctions, the brāhmaṇas are considered to be the spiritual masters of all other castes. Lord Kṛṣṇa, Arjuna and Bhīmasena were actually kṣatriyas, but they dressed themselves as brāhmaṇas, and at the time when King Jarāsandha was to give charity to the brāhmaṇas and receive them as guests, they approached him.”
They entered the inner rooms since Jarāsandha respected brāhmaṇas. They came at the time of lunch at noon, and made their request (ayāceran) while reciting praises and scriptures. The irregularity of the verb is according to the rule vyatyaybahulam. (Pāṇini 3.1.84) Jarāsandha was attached to household duties (gṛha-medhinam) and thus, devoted to brāhmaṇas. Another version has gṛha-medhinām. This phrase then modifies atithya-velāyām. They came at the time for receiving householder guests.
- Where am I dismissing virtues in someone I disagree with that I could actually appeal to?
- What conversation might open if I started with what we both honor?
A merchant who advertises generosity is bound by his advertisement. Jarāsandha's dharma toward brāhmaṇas is real — and Kṛṣṇa uses precisely that real dharma to disarm him. The hour of athithi-velā is a contractual hour; the king cannot refuse.
My note
Source: vedabase.io