Gokula · II. Birth in the Prison

Verse 11

पीतवासा घनश्यामः कुञ्चिताञ्चितकुन्तलः ।सुव्यक्तव्यक्ताभरणः सूतिकागृहभूषणः॥

pītavāsā ghanaśyāmaḥ kuñcitāñcitakuntalaḥ ·suvyaktavyaktābharaṇaḥ sūtikāgṛhabhūṣaṇaḥ

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.