Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.66.22
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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utkṛtya
—
severing
Absolutive of ut-√kṛt (to cut up). Surgical verb — clean separation. Two heads severed in two verses; Vyāsa is economical with both narrative and steel.
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patribhiḥ
—
with His arrows
Plural instrumental of patrin (winged-one, arrow). Note the pun: pattin = arrow (winged); padma = lotus. The 'winged' weapons send the 'flowering' head — Sanskrit poetry's pleasure in this verse is dark and exact.
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kāśi-puryām
—
into the city of Kāśī
Compound locative: Kāśī + purī (city). The head is delivered specifically to Kāśī, so that the city — which had backed the imitator — sees its own king fallen in its own streets. The next verses (25–28) trace exactly the grief and revenge this delivery triggers.
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padma-kośam
—
the cup of a lotus
Compound: padma (lotus) + kośa (cup, sheath). Gauḍīyas note the inversion: the lotus is Bhagavān's emblem (Brahmā born from His navel-lotus, the gopīs' feet like lotuses) — but here the lotus-image graces a severed head. The Bhāgavata's beauty refuses to look away from the actual.
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anilaḥ
—
the wind
Vāyu, the wind. Gauḍīyas recall that Vāyu is also the carrier of prāṇa, the breath that sustains life; here he carries the head that is no longer breathing. The Bhāgavata's similes are never decorative; they are theological.
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī explains why Kṛṣṇa threw Kāśirāja’s head into the city: “As he went off to battle, the King of Kāśī had promised the citizens: ‘My dear residents of Kāśī, today I will bring the enemy’s head into the midst of the city. Have no doubt of this.’ The King’s sinful queens had also boasted to their maids-in-waiting: ‘Today our master will certainly bring the head of the Lord of Dvārakā.’ Therefore the Supreme Lord threw the King’s head into the city to astonish the inhabitants.”
The reason that the king if Kasi’s head was thrown into the city of Kasi can be inferred as follows. " O inhabitants of Kasi, today I will bring the head of the enemy into Kasi. Do not doubt this.’" Promising this, the king then went to battle. His sinful, proud wives also told their friends, "Today our husband will bring the head of the master of Dvaraka. " For this reason the playful Lord put the king’s head in the city to astonish the inhabitants.
His head entering Kāśī is compared to the wind blowing a lotus, since the cause of his head appearing there was unseen. Or, though he cut his head off with his arrows, it happened so quickly that the cause could not been seen.
He released many arrows to make the head fall. Or the plural is used to indicate respect. The example shows the suddenness with which the head fell.
The wind takes a lotus-cup from a pond and lays it on the path to the temple — gently, almost respectfully. Kṛṣṇa's arrows lift the head of Kāśirāja and float it into Kāśī, a flower returned to the city it came from. The image is exquisite; the meaning is mortal.
My note
Source: vedabase.io