Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Bhagavad-gītā As It Is 10.27

uccaihśravasam aśvānām

viddhi mām amritodbhavam

airāvatam gajendrānām

narānām ca narādhipam

SYNONYMS

uccaihśravasam — Uccaihśravā; aśvānām — among horses; viddhi — know; mām — Me; amrita-udbhavam — produced from the churning of the ocean; airāvatam — Airāvata; gaja-indrānām — of lordly elephants; narānām — among human beings; ca — and; nara-adhipam — the king.

TRANSLATION

Of horses know Me to be Uccaihśravā, produced during the churning of the ocean for nectar. Of lordly elephants I am Airāvata, and among men I am the monarch.

PURPORT

The devotee demigods and the demons (asuras) once took part in churning the sea. From this churning, nectar and poison were produced, and Lord Śiva drank the poison. From the nectar were produced many entities, of which there was a horse named Uccaihśravā. Another animal produced from the nectar was an elephant named Airāvata. Because these two animals were produced from nectar, they have special significance, and they are representatives of Krishna.

Amongst the human beings, the king is the representative of Krishna because Krishna is the maintainer of the universe, and the kings, who are appointed on account of their godly qualifications, are maintainers of their kingdoms. Kings like Mahārāja Yudhishthira, Mahārāja Parīkshit and Lord Rāma were all highly righteous kings who always thought of the citizens' welfare. In Vedic literature, the king is considered to be the representative of God. In this age, however, with the corruption of the principles of religion, monarchy decayed and is now finally abolished. It is to be understood that in the past, however, people were more happy under righteous kings.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness