Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 4.21.4

prajās taḿ dīpa-balibhiḥ

sambhṛtāśeṣa-mańgalaiḥ

abhīyur mṛṣṭa-kanyāś ca

mṛṣṭa-kuṇḍala-maṇḍitāḥ

SYNONYMS

prajāḥ — citizens; tam — to him; dīpa-balibhiḥ — with lamps; sambhṛta — equipped with; aśeṣa — unlimited; mańgalaiḥ — auspicious articles; abhīyuḥ — came forward to welcome; mṛṣṭa — with beautiful bodily luster; kanyāḥ ca — and unmarried girls; mṛṣṭa — colliding with; kuṇḍala — earrings; maṇḍitāḥ — being bedecked with.

TRANSLATION

As the King entered the gate of the city, all the citizens received him with many auspicious articles like lamps, flowers and yogurt. The King was also received by many beautiful unmarried girls whose bodies were bedecked with various ornaments, especially with earrings which collided with one another.

PURPORT

Offerings of natural products such as betel nuts, bananas, newly grown wheat, paddy, yogurt and vermillion, carried by the citizens and scattered throughout the city, are all auspicious paraphernalia, according to Vedic civilization, for receiving a prominent guest like a bridegroom, king or spiritual master. Similarly, a welcome offered by unmarried girls who are internally and externally clean and are dressed in nice garments and ornaments is also auspicious. Kumārī, or unmarried girls untouched by the hand of any member of the opposite sex, are auspicious members of society. Even today in Hindu society the most conservative families do not allow unmarried girls to go out freely or mix with boys. They are very carefully protected by their parents while unmarried, after marriage they are protected by their young husbands, and when elderly they are protected by their children. When thus protected, women as a class remain an always auspicious source of energy to man.

<<< >>>

Copyright © The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness