SB 10.13.31 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

समेत्य गावोऽधो वत्सान् वत्सवत्योऽप्यपाययन् । गिलन्त्य इव चाङ्गानि लिहन्त्य: स्वौधसं पय: ॥ ३१ ॥

Verse text

sametya gāvo ’dho vatsān vatsavatyo ’py apāyayan gilantya iva cāṅgāni lihantyaḥ svaudhasaṁ payaḥ

Synonyms

sametya — assembling ; gāvaḥ — all the cows ; adhaḥ — down at the foot of Govardhana Hill ; vatsān — all their calves ; vatsa — vatyaḥ — as if new calves had been born from them ; api — even though new calves were present ; apāyayan — fed them ; gilantyaḥ — swallowing them ; iva — as if ; ca — also ; aṅgāni — their bodies ; lihantyaḥ — licking as they do when newborn calves are present ; sva — odhasam payaḥ — their own milk flowing from the milk bags .

Translation

The cows had given birth to new calves, but while coming down from Govardhana Hill, the cows, because of increased affection for the older calves, allowed the older calves to drink milk from their milk bags and then began licking the calves’ bodies in anxiety, as if wanting to swallow them.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

The cows had given birth to new calves, but while coming down from Govardhana Hill, the cows, because of increased affection for the older calves, allowed the older calves to drink milk from their milk bags and then began licking the calves' bodies in anxiety, as if wanting to swallow them. KB 10.13.31 These cows had their own calves, and the calves that were grazing beneath Govardhana Hill were larger; they were not expected to drink milk directly from the milk bag but were satisfied with the grass. Yet all the cows came immediately and began to lick their bodies, and the calves also began to suck milk from the milk bags. There appeared to be a great bond of affection between the cows and calves.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

When the cows reached the bottom of Govardhana, though they were about to give birth to more calves in a two or three days, they made the old calves drink the milk which was flowing from their udders (svaudhasam payah). Licking the calves as if devouring them, they showed their excessive affection.

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

Audhasam means “full udders.” Svaudhasam can mean their (sva) udder or their beautiful (su) udders.