Harivamsha 63
English (machine translation) 63
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63.1
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: / When Śakra had gone, the glorious Kṛṣṇa, the uplifter of Govardhana, / honoured by the dwellers of the cowpen, entered the cowpen itself.
63.2
The elders and kinsmen living together with him congratulated him: / “We are blessed, we are favoured by the mountain upheld by you!
63.3
The cows have crossed over the danger of the rain, and we have crossed over great fear / through your grace, O Govinda, equal to a god, of great splendour!
63.4
We see your deeds are superhuman, O lord of herds; / by your holding up of this mountain, we know you to be the imperishable Kṛṣṇa.
63.5
Who are you among the Rudras, or among the Maruts, O mighty one, / or among the Vasus? And for what purpose is Vasudeva your father?
63.6
Your play as a child is in the forest, and your birth among us is disdained, / yet your activity is divine, O Kṛṣṇa; our minds are filled with doubt.
63.7
Why do you delight in the dress of a cowherd, disdained among us? / And resembling a world-guardian, why do you protect the cows?
63.8
Whether you are a god or a dānava, a yakṣa or indeed a gandharva, / you have been born as our kin; whoever you are, homage be to you!
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Homage be to Kṛṣṇa, to Kṛṣṇa! Homage to the friend of the cowherds!
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Homage to the child, the protector, disguised as a cowherd, our kinsman!
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Homage to you, the lion among boys! Homage to the bearer of the mountain!”
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And to the god, to the supreme, to the yakṣa, obeisance, obeisance!
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Obeisance to you, the son of Nanda and the son of Yaśodā!
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Who are you, or what god are you? For what purpose do you protect us?
63.9
If you dwell here by chance for some purpose, / we are all your followers, gone to you for refuge."
63.10
Hearing the words of the cowherds, lotus-eyed Kṛṣṇa, / having smiled, replied to all his assembled kinsmen:
63.11
"As all of you of fierce prowess consider me, / I should not be understood in that manner; I am of your own kin, a relative.
63.12
If, however, [it] must certainly be heard, let time be awaited; / then you will hear and behold me in truth.
63.13
If I am praised by you as a kinsman possessing the radiance of a god, / what need is there of special knowledge, if this is my favor?"
63.14
Thus addressed by the son of Vasudeva, those cowherds indeed / maintained silence and departed in all directions with covered faces.
63.15
Kṛṣṇa, however, seeing the fresh moon at night / and the youth of the autumn nights, set his mind on pleasure.
63.16
In the streets of the cowpen fragrant with dried cow dung, that mighty one / arranged fights among the impassioned bulls.
63.17
And the mighty one had cowherds endowed with strength fight; / and in the forest that heroic lord seized cows like an alligator.
63.18
Gathering together the young women and daughters of cowherds at night, knowing the time, / honoring his youth, he took delight with them.
63.19
Those lovely cowherd women drank in his handsome face at night / with glances of their eyes, as if drinking the moon fallen to earth.
63.20
Clad in an auspicious, shining silk garment / yellow like wet yellow orpiment, Kṛṣṇa appeared all the more charming.
63.21
Wearing armlets and brightened with a variegated garland of forest flowers, / shining indeed, Govinda adorned that cowpen.
63.22
"Obeisance to Dāmodara!" the cowherd daughters then said, / seeing that wondrous deed of that radiant one in the settlement.
63.22x734
"Obeisance to you, cowherd Kṛṣṇa! Be gracious, O lord!"
63.23
Those excellent women pressed against him with chests swelling with breasts, / and gazed at him with rolling eyes and tilted faces.
63.24
Though restrained by their fathers, brothers, and mothers, / the cowherd women, fond of pleasure, sought Kṛṣṇa at night.
63.25
Formed into rows, all the cowherd daughters / delighted the captivating one, singing of Kṛṣṇa's deeds in pairs.
63.26
Imitating Kṛṣṇa's sports, their eyes fixed on Kṛṣṇa, / moving with Kṛṣṇa's gait, those youthful, excellent women [delighted him].
63.27
Others, clapping rhythmically with the tips of their hands in the forests, / acted out the deeds of that Kṛṣṇa, the women of the cowpen.
63.28
Joyfully imitating his dancing, singing, / and his playful, smiling glances, the women of the cowpen sported.
63.29
Singing sweetly, born of emotion, those excellent women / went happily to the cowpen, devoted to Dāmodara.
63.29x735
The women, devoted to Dāmodara, went happily to the cowpen.
63.30
Their limbs smeared with cow-dung dust, they gathered around Kṛṣṇa, / delighting him as joyous cow-elephants delight a bull elephant.
63.31
Other women, smiling-faced, with eyes blooming with emotion, / drank in Kṛṣṇa insatiably with eyes like black deer.
63.32
Looking at his face, other thirsty cowherd daughters, / gone to intimate delight at night, drank it in, longing for pleasure.
63.33
As he made sounds of delight, those overjoyed excellent women / caught the words that issued forth, uttered soothingly by Dāmodara.
63.34
With parted hair braided, disheveled by thoughts of pleasure, / the beautiful hair of the cowherd women fell loosely over their nipples.
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Then Dāmodara, longing for pleasure, seized some women.
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Thus the charming cowherd women delighted Kṛṣṇa,
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adorned, singing most sweetly, overwhelmed by intoxication.
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Kṛṣṇa too, his eyes reddened with passion, increasing the joy of the gopīs,
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Viṣṇu drank their faces, moving his bee-like eyes about.
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Grasping the garments of another cowherd daughter, he kissed her;
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and another Kṛṣṇa embraced, his eyes unsteady with passion.
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Govinda, knowing the ways of love play, lay with another;
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grasping the garments of another and gazing upon her, he drank her lovely face.
63.34x736-10
Govinda, Keśava, scratched another with his sharp nails;
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and grasping another by the hair, playfully lifting her face,
63.34x736-12
Govinda embraced her, concealed in the guise of a cowherd.
63.34x736-13
Seizing one, releasing another, he dismissed another;
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he delighted [one] while another watched, and brought pleasure to yet another.
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Calling one, the lord of the gods delighted another;
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seizing her again suddenly, he made love before her eyes.
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And those gopīs, abandoning their husbands, clung to Hari alone;
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"He alone is our eldest and our best," thought the excellent women,
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and they attained supreme devotion to Kṛṣṇa, the lord of the god of gods.
63.35
Thus adorned by the circles of gopīs, that Kṛṣṇa / rejoiced happily in the autumn nights with the moon.
Linked texts (1)
- Harivaṃśa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit