SB 1.14.28–29

कच्चिद्राजाहुको जीवत्यसत्पुत्रोऽस्य चानुजः ।
हृदीकः ससुतोऽक्रूरो जयन्तगदसारणाः ॥ २८ ॥
आसते कुशलं कच्चिद्ये च शत्रुजिदादयः ।
कच्चिदास्ते सुखं रामो भगवान्सात्वतां प्रभुः ॥ २९ ॥

kaccid rājāhuko jīvaty asat-putro’sya cānujaḥ
hṛdīkaḥ sasuto’krūro jayanta-gada-sāraṇāḥ
āsate kuśalaṁ kaccid ye ca śatrujid-ādayaḥ
kaccid āste sukhaṁ rāmo bhagavān sātvatāṁ prabhuḥ

Synonyms

kaccit — is; rājā — king; āhukaḥ — Ugrasena; asat-putraḥ — whose son was the wicked [Kaṁsa (duṣṭaḥ kaṁsaḥ);⁹³ who was openly antagonistic to Kṛṣṇa (kṛṣṇa-dveṣī)⁹⁴]; jīvati⁹⁵ — still alive; ca — and; [is (kaccit)]; asya — his; anujaḥ — younger brother [Devaka]; [also living on (jīvati)]; kaccit — are; hṛdīkaḥ — Hṛdīka; sa-sutaḥ — along with his son [Kṛtavarmā⁹⁶]; akrūraḥ — Akrūra; jayanta⁹⁷ — Jayanta; gada — Gada; sāraṇāḥ — Sāraṇa; ye ca — as well as those; ādayaḥ — headed by; śatrujit — Śatrujit; āsate — [all] living; kuśalam — well; kaccit — [and] is; bhagavān — Bhagavān; rāmaḥ — Balarāma; prabhuḥ — the Master [and Guardian (pālakaḥ)]; sātvatām — of the Sātvatas [or of His devotees (bhaktānām)]; āste — living; sukham — happily.

Translation

Is King Ugrasena, whose son was the wicked Kaṁsa, still alive? And is his younger brother [Devaka] also living on? Are Hṛdīka along with his son [Kṛtavarmā], Akrūra, Jayanta, Gada, Sāraṇa as well as those headed by Śatrujit all living well? And is Bhagavān Balarāma, the Master and Guardian of the Sātvatas, living happily?

Notes

93Unless otherwise indicated, this and the following bracketed inserts in verses 28–29 are Giridhara’s comments.↩
94Jīva Gosvāmī.↩
95Jīva Gosvāmī comments here that even up to the time at hand, Ugrasena felt shame to have had such a wicked son, and hence the question is asked with the idea that he might have decided at some point to end his life. Śrīdhara Svāmī points out that because Ugrasena had such a wicked son, the question was only about whether he was still somehow alive [and not whether he was living “happily” (sukham)]. Giridhara adds that the compound asat-putraḥ signifies that for Ugrasena, life itself must have been a terrible hardship. Most of the other Bhāgavata commentators reiterate the same point, treating the clause kaccid rājāhuko jīvaty asat-putraḥ separately in their comments. To make this point even more emphatic, both Vīrarāghava and Giridhara divide the first line into two separate questions, with the words kaccij jīvati repeated in regard to Ugrasena’s younger brother Devaka. The sense is that of the two brothers, the latter was more likely to be “living on,” and so he is asked about separately. The anvaya and translation have been arranged accordingly.↩
96Śrīdhara Svāmī.↩
97Śrīdhara Svāmī and several other commentators note that the individuals mentioned from Jayanta to Balarāma were all brothers of Kṛṣṇa. Vīrarāghava clarifies the point by explaining that they were all sons of Kṛṣṇa’s father, Vasudeva, from wives other than Devakī.↩

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