HV 74.1
समागतौ च तौ दृष्ट्वा जहि गोपालकाव् उभौ । तस्मिन्न् अहनि निर्वृत्ते द्वितीये समुपस्थिते । संकीर्यत महारङ्गः पौरैर् युद्धदिदृक्षुभिः ॥
samāgatau ca tau dṛṣṭvā jahi gopālakāv ubhau | tasminn ahani nirvṛtte dvitīye samupasthite | saṃkīryata mahā-raṅgaḥ paurair yuddha-didṛkṣubhiḥ
'Seeing them come together, kill the two cowherds!' With that day ended and a second day come, the great arena filled with citizens eager to see the fight.
The Living Words
*Samāgatau ca tau dṛṣṭvā jahi gopālakau ubhau*, 'seeing them come together, kill both cowherds' — a direct imperative, Kaṃsa's order carried over from HV 72. *Tasminn ahani nirvṛtte dvitīye samupasthite*, 'with that day ended and a second present'. *Saṃkīryata mahā-raṅgaḥ paurair yuddha-didṛkṣubhiḥ*, 'the great arena was filled by citizens eager to see battle.'
The Heart of It
The verse opens on a dangerous order (*kill both cowherds*) but immediately widens to the crowd's anticipation. The Harivaṃśa's realism: behind any violent plan is a public of spectators, ordinary curious people. The Varkari tradition's awareness that spiritual combats happen in public, in crowded settings, not in isolation, is continuous with this. Jñāneśvar's Haripāṭh begins at *devāciye dvārīṃ* — at God's door, not in a hermitage — and HV 74 is the scripture's model for that public register: the god enters where people gather.