Texts 22-23
nācalat tat-prahāreṇa
mālāhata iva dvipaḥ
bāhvor nigṛhya cāṇūraṁ
bahuśo bhrāmayan hariḥ
bhū-pṛṣṭhe pothayām āsa
tarasā kṣīṇa jīvitam
visrastākalpa-keśa-srag
indra-dhvaja ivāpatat
na acalat — He (Lord Kṛṣṇa) did not move; tat-prahāreṇa — because of his blows; mālā — with a garland; āhata — struck; iva — as; dvipaḥ — an elephant; bāhvoḥ — by the two arms; nigṛhya — seizing; cāṇūram — Cāṇūra; bahuśaḥ — several times; bhrāmayan — whirling him around; hariḥ — Lord Kṛṣṇa; bhū — of the earth; pṛṣṭhe — onto the surface; pothayām āsa — hurled; tarasā — forcefully; kṣīṇa — becoming lost; jīvitam — his life; visrasta — scattered; ākalpa — his clothing; keśa — hair; srak — and flower garland; indra-dhvajaḥ — a tall festival column; iva — as if; apatat — he fell.
No more shaken by the demon’s mighty blows than an elephant struck with a flower garland, Lord Kṛṣṇa grabbed Cāṇūra by his arms, swung him around several times and hurled him onto the ground with great force. His clothes, hair and garland scattering, the wrestler fell down dead, like a huge festival column collapsing.
Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī explains the words indra-dhvaja as follows: “In Bengal, on the occasion of a certain festival, people erect a tall column in the form of a man and decorate it with flags, banners, etc. He [Cāṇūra] fell just as such a pole might fall.”