Texts 8-9
kaṁsaḥ pāpa-matiḥ sakhyaṁ
tava cānakadundubheḥ
devakyā aṣṭamo garbho
na strī bhavitum arhati
iti sañcintayañ chrutvā
devakyā dārikā-vacaḥ
api hantā gatāśaṅkas
tarhi tan no ’nayo bhavet
kaṁsaḥ — King Kaṁsa; pāpa-matiḥ — very, very sinful, having a polluted mind; sakhyam — friendship; tava — your; ca — also; ānaka-dundubheḥ — of Vasudeva; devakyāḥ — of Devakī; aṣṭamaḥ garbhaḥ — the eighth pregnancy; na — not; strī — a woman; bhavitum arhati — is possible to be; iti — in this way; sañcintayan — considering; śrutvā — and hearing (this news); devakyāḥ — of Devakī; dārikā-vacaḥ — the message from the daughter; api — although there was; hantā gata-āśaṅkaḥ — there is a possibility that Kaṁsa would take steps to kill this child; tarhi — therefore; tat — that incident; naḥ — for us; anayaḥ bhavet — may not be very good.
Kaṁsa is both a great diplomat and a very sinful man. Therefore, having heard from Yoga-māyā, the daughter of Devakī, that the child who will kill him has already been born somewhere else, having heard that the eighth pregnancy of Devakī could not bring forth a female child, and having understood your friendship with Vasudeva, Kaṁsa, upon hearing that the purificatory process has been performed by me, the priest of the Yadu dynasty, may certainly consider all these points and suspect that Kṛṣṇa is the son of Devakī and Vasudeva. Then he might take steps to kill Kṛṣṇa. That would be a catastrophe.
Kaṁsa knew very well that Yoga-māyā was, after all, the maidservant of Kṛṣṇa and Viṣṇu and that although Yoga-māyā had appeared as the daughter of Devakī, she might have been forbidden to disclose this fact. Actually this was what had happened. Garga Muni argued very soberly that his taking part in performing the reformatory process for Kṛṣṇa would give rise to many doubts, so that Kaṁsa might take very severe steps to kill the child. Kaṁsa had already sent many demons to attempt to kill this child, but none of them had survived. If Garga Muni were to perform the purificatory process, Kaṁsa’s suspicions would be fully confirmed, and he would take very severe steps. Garga Muni gave this warning to Nanda Mahārāja.