Gokula · II. Birth in the Prison

Verse 11

पीतवासा घनश्यामः कुञ्चिताञ्चितकुन्तलः ।सुव्यक्तव्यक्ताभरणः सूतिकागृहभूषणः॥

pītavāsā ghanaśyāmaḥ kuñcitāñcitakuntalaḥ ·suvyaktavyaktābharaṇaḥ sūtikāgṛhabhūṣaṇaḥ

Recitation

The Names in This Verse (5)

60 pītavāsāḥ

clad in yellow

S.B.G 10.3.9

'Yellow-clad' — the yellow silk (pītāmbara) is one of Kṛṣṇa's identifying marks; even the newborn appears clothed in this divine yellow.

61 ghanaśyāmaḥ

dark as a rain-laden cloud

S.B.G 10.3.9

'Dark as a rain-cloud' — the deep blue-black complexion is one of the Bhāgavata's most-used images, signalling divinity and the monsoon's life-giving promise.

62 kuñcitāñcitakuntalaḥ

with curling, graceful locks

S.B.G 10.3.9

With curled and ornamented locks — the birth form's hair is naturally curled and radiant, prefiguring the celebrated kuntala-curls of his youth.

63 suvyaktavyaktābharaṇaḥ

adorned with clearly-manifest ornaments

S.B.G 10.3.9

Whose ornaments are simultaneously perceptible and transcendent — the birth form wears divine jewels both real to the senses and beyond ordinary perception.

64 sūtikāgṛhabhūṣaṇaḥ

the ornament of the birth-chamber

S.B.G 10.3.8

'Ornament of the birthing room' — the prison cell, the most inauspicious of places, becomes the most luminous room in creation when the Lord appears within it.