Text 20
haihayo nahuṣo veṇo
rāvaṇo narako ’pare
śrī-madād bhraṁśitāḥ sthānād
deva-daitya-nareśvarāḥ
haihayaḥ nahuṣaḥ veṇaḥ — Haihaya (Kārtavīrya), Nahuṣa and Veṇa; rāvaṇaḥ narakaḥ — Rāvaṇa and Naraka; apare — others also; śrī — due to opulence; madāt — because of their intoxication; bhraṁśitāḥ — made to fall; sthānāt — from their positions; deva — of demigods; daitya — demons; nara — and men; īśvarāḥ — rulers.
Haihaya, Nahuṣa, Veṇa, Rāvaṇa, Naraka and many other rulers of demigods, men and demons fell from their elevated positions because of infatuation with material opulence.
As described by Śrīdhara Svāmī, because Haihaya stole the desire cow of Lord Paraśurāma’s father, Jamadagni, Paraśurāma killed him and his impudent sons. Nahuṣa became puffed up when he temporarily assumed the post of Indra. When out of pride Nahuṣa ordered some brāhmaṇas to carry him in a palanquin to an illicit meeting with Lord Indra’s chaste wife, Śacī, the brāhmaṇas made him fall down from his position and become an old man. King Vena was similarly mad, and when he insulted the brāhmaṇas they killed him by loud incantations of the syllable hum. Rāvaṇa was a famous ruler of the Rākṣasas, but out of lust he kidnapped Mother Sītā, and thus her husband, Lord Rāmacandra, killed him. Naraka was a ruler of the Daityas who dared to steal Mother Aditi’s earrings, and for his offense he was also killed. Thus throughout history powerful leaders have fallen from their positions because they became intoxicated with their so-called opulence.