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मुष्णन् प्रभातसमयेषु मुरान्तकारिन् अङ्घ्रिद्वयश्रियमहस्करतस्करस्ते।
यत्प्राप्यते न करभङ्गममुष्य बालमित्रत्वमेव मिषति ध्रुवमत्र हेतुः॥३८॥
T: Oh, Lord Śrī Varadarāja, also known as Murāri, at dawn, a thief called the sun comes and steals the golden-red glow of Your feet! But I see that his hands(=rays) are not cut off as punishment (per the medieval punishment for theft)! The only explanation can be that the sun is your childhood friend.
Explanation: At dawn, as he rises, the sun is golden red. The poet surmises that this sun has stolen the golden reddish hue of the feet of Lord Śrī Varadarāja! The word kara (कर), as we have seen earlier also, means both rays of light as well as hands. Now if someone is a habitual thief with daily acts of stealing like this, the medieval punishment would be that his hands are cut off. Why has this punishment not been meted out? The explanation is that the sun is a Bālamitra (बालमित्र). Here again, the poet is punning on the word. The early morning sun and a childhood friend are both called Bālamitra. Noble souls do not punish either childhood buddies or friends in general. So, the poet imagines that the sun has not been punished in this case by the Lord for that very reason (Hetu). This figure of speech is Hetūtprekṣā (हेतूत्प्रेक्षा).
