Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.50.43
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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aṣṭā-daśama-saṅgrāme
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in the eighteenth battle
Compound: aṣṭa-daśama + saṅgrāma. The eighteenth war is interrupted before it begins; Jarāsandha never gets his eighteenth Mathurā-siege. Bhīma will eventually conclude the Jarāsandha-arc not on a battlefield but in single combat at Magadha.
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nārada-preṣitaḥ
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sent by Nārada
Compound. Nārada is the Vaiṣṇava sage who arranges līlā-movements. He instigates Hiraṇyakaśipu against Prahlāda (7.5), informs the Pāṇḍavas, and here informs Kālayavana. Always serving the Lord's plan by appearing to disrupt it.
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yavanaḥ
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a barbarian (Kālayavana)
Yavana — outside the Vedic varṇāśrama. Kāla (dark/time) + yavana, hence Kālayavana. Born of a brahmaṇa's curse and a yavanī princess (Hari-vaṁśa). His function is to be the second front that pushes Kṛṣṇa to relocate the Yadus.
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pratyadṛśyata
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appeared
Prati + √dṛś, passive imperfect — 'became visible.' A sudden appearance, like a divinely-arranged stage-entry. The chapter's pacing accelerates from here: siege, pivot, founding of Dvārakā, all in a few verses.
Kālayavana suddenly became visible to the residents of Mathurā (pratyadṛśyate). In other words he came quickly. Viṣṇu Purāṇa explains how Nārada sent him. gārgyaṁ goṣṭhyāṁ dvijaṁ śyālaḥ ṣaṇḍa ity uktavān dvija / yadūnāṁ sannidhau sarve jahasur yādavās tadā // tataḥ kopa-parītātmā dakṣiṇā-patham etya saḥ / sutam icchaṁs tapas tepe yadu-cakra-bhayāvaham // ārādhayan mahā-devaṁ loha-cūrṇam abhakṣayat / dadau varaṁ ca tuṣṭo 'smai varṣe tu dvādaśe haraḥ // saṁtoṣayām āsa ca taṁ yavaneśo hy anātmajaḥ / tadyoṣit-saṁgamāc cāsya putro 'bhūd ali-sannibhaḥ // taṁ kālayavanaṁ nāma rāṣṭre sve yavaneśvaraḥ / abhiṣicya vanaṁ yāto vajragra-kaṭhinorasam // sa tu vīrya-madonmattaḥ pṛthivyāṁ balino nṛpān / apṛcchan nāradas tasmai kathayām āsa yādavān // Once, Gārgya was ridiculed by his brother-in-law as a eunuch, and when the Yādavas heard this they laughed heartily. Infuriated by their laughter, Gārgya set out for the south, and performed austerities while desiring a son who would bring terror to the Yādavas. He worshiped Mahādeva by eating powdered iron and after twelve years pleased Śiva. Having no son, through association with his wife he bore a son like a scorpion. Yavaneśvara, naming him Kālayavana, made him the king and went to the forest. His chest was as hard as the tip of thunderbolt. O king! Intoxicated with his strength he asked Nārada who was the strongest on earth. Nārada told him that the Yadus were the strongest. Instead of preṣitaḥ sometimes preritaḥ is seen.
Just as the eighteenth siege is about to begin, a barbarian-warrior named Kālayavana — sent by Nārada — appears on the field. The transition is one of the chapter's hinges: the eighteenth Jarāsandha-war never quite happens, because a new front opens, and Kṛṣṇa pivots toward founding Dvārakā.
Mahābhārata and the Bhāgavatam together name Nārada as the agent who informs Kālayavana that the Yadus are his equals — knowing full well that this will bring him to Mathurā. Gauḍīyas read Nārada's intervention as never accidental: he is Bhagavān's intimate associate, arranging the very fronts that force Kṛṣṇa's transition out of Mathurā and into Dvārakā.
The later death of Kālayavana, drawn by Kṛṣṇa into Mucukunda's cave (SB 10.51), is the result of this same arrangement — the entire chain begins with Nārada's tip in this verse.
My note
Source: vedabase.io