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ŚB 10.16.4

Devanagari

श्रीशुक उवाच
कालिन्द्यां कालियस्यासीद् ह्रद: कश्चिद् विषाग्निना ।
श्रप्यमाणपया यस्मिन् पतन्त्युपरिगा: खगा: ॥ ४ ॥

Text

śrī-śuka uvāca
kālindyāṁ kāliyasyāsīd
hradaḥ kaścid viṣāgninā
śrapyamāṇa-payā yasmin
patanty upari-gāḥ khagāḥ

Synonyms

śrī-śukaḥ uvāca — Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said; kālindyām — within the river Yamunā; kāliyasya — of the serpent Kāliya; āsīt — there was; hradaḥ — lake; kaścit — a certain; viṣa — of his poison; agninā — by the fire; śrapyamāṇa — being heated and boiled; payāḥ — its water; yasmin — into which; patanti — would fall down; upari-gāḥ — traveling above; khagāḥ — the birds.

Translation

Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Within the river Kālindī [Yamunā] was a lake inhabited by the serpent Kāliya, whose fiery poison constantly heated and boiled its waters. Indeed, the vapors thus created were so poisonous that birds flying over the contaminated lake would fall down into it.

Purport

In this regard the ācāryas explain that the Kāliya lake was situated apart from the main current of the river; otherwise the Yamunā’s waters would have been poisonous even in cities like Mathurā and in other places farther away.