Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.78.38
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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ilvalasya sutaḥ
—
son of Ilvala
Ilvala — the brāhmaṇa-killing asura from Mahābhārata Vana-parva. The lineage is explicit: Balvala inherits a family vocation of defiling brāhmaṇas. Asura-dharma runs in his blood.
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ghoraḥ
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fearsome
From √ghur. Standard Bhāgavatam epithet for high-grade asuras. Ghora-rūpa, the terrible form. Balvala fits the category.
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balvalaḥ
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Balvala
Name of the demon. From bala (strength) — but as 'Balvala' it doubles the bala morpheme, suggesting brute redundant force. The Lord's elder brother is Balarāma, the right kind of bala; the demon's name is the wrong one.
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dūṣayati
—
pollutes
Causative of √duṣ. The verb of contamination of yajña-ground. The opposite of pavitra-karaṇa. Balvala's whole activity is dūṣaṇa; the Lord's whole activity is pāvana.
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parvaṇi parvaṇi
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at every new-moon
Locative-iterative. Parvan = the joint of the month, especially new and full moons. Balvala's attack is calendrical — a counter-rite synchronized with auspicious days. The Bhāgavatam shows asuras using śāstric time against śāstric ends.
First the sages tell Lord Balarāma the favor they would like Him to do for them.
On every dark moon day (parvani parvani) he contaminates our sacrifice.
The demon comes on days like the dark moon and full moon. They repeat the word parvaṇi to indicate that he comes on every parva without fail.
The demon cannot be killed by others (ghoraḥ). Parvaṇi means days like the full and dark moon. Repeitition is used (parvaṇi parvaṇi) to indicate that the demon comes definitely on those days without fail.
- What is the 'Balvala' that disturbs my regular practice on a predictable schedule?
- How could I anticipate and prepare for it rather than be surprised each time?
Balvala, son of Ilvala, comes every new-moon day and pours pus, blood, feces, urine, wine, and meat upon the sages' sacrifice. The yajña-ground itself is being contaminated rhythmically — a parva-rite of asuric counter-yajña. The sages ask for relief, and they ask the Lord whose feet are pure to do the cleansing.
Ilvala (Balvala's father) is the same Ilvala who, with his brother Vātāpi, used to feed brāhmaṇa-guests the cooked flesh of his transformed brother, then call him forth from their bellies. Agastya Ṛṣi finally digested Vātāpi before the call could come (Mahābhārata Vana-parva 96-97; SB 4.16.18 commentary tradition).
Balvala continues the family's specialty: defiling brāhmaṇa rites. The Bhāgavatam draws a long line from Ilvala's culinary asura-craft to Balvala's parvan-pollution, and finally hands the line over to Balarāma's plough to be broken once and for all.
My note
Source: vedabase.io