SB 10.33.9 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

काचित् समं मुकुन्देन स्वरजातीरमिश्रिता: । उन्निन्ये पूजिता तेन प्रीयता साधु साध्विति । तदेव ध्रुवमुन्निन्ये तस्यै मानं च बह्वदात् ॥ ९ ॥

Verse text

kācit samaṁ mukundena svara-jātīr amiśritāḥ unninye pūjitā tena prīyatā sādhu sādhv iti tad eva dhruvam unninye tasyai mānaṁ ca bahv adāt

Synonyms

kācit — a certain gopī ; samam — together ; mukundena — with Lord Kṛṣṇa ; svara — jātīḥ — pure musical tones ; amiśritāḥ — not confused with the sounds vibrated by Kṛṣṇa ; unninye — she raised ; pūjitā — honored ; tena — by Him ; prīyatā — who was pleased ; sādhu sādhu iti — saying, “excellent, excellent” ; tat eva — that same (melody) ; dhruvam — with a particular metrical pattern ; unninye — vibrated (another gopī ) ; tasyai — to her ; mānam — special respect ; ca — and ; bahu — much ; adāt — He gave .

Translation

One gopī, joining Lord Mukunda in His singing, sang pure melodious tones that rose harmoniously above His. Kṛṣṇa was pleased and showed great appreciation for her performance, saying “Excellent! Excellent!” Then another gopī repeated the same melody, but in a special metrical pattern, and Kṛṣṇa praised her also.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

One gopī, joining Lord Mukunda in His singing, sang pure melodious tones that rose harmoniously above His. Kṛṣṇa was pleased and showed great appreciation for her performance, saying "Excellent! Excellent!" Then another gopī repeated the same melody, but in a special metrical pattern, and Kṛṣṇa praised her also. KB 10.33.9 The gopīs wanted to please Kṛṣṇa, and therefore as Kṛṣṇa sang, they responded and encouraged Him by saying “Well done! Well done!” Sometimes they presented beautiful music for His pleasure, and He responded by praising their singing.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

The svaras are born from the srutis. These seven svaras correspond to the cries of the peacock, cataka, goat, crane, cuckoo, stork and elephant. The jatis arising from the arrangement of svaras are eighteen. Jatis are the source of ragas. These jatis are to two types: pure and distorted. The sadja, arsabha, gandhara, madhyama, pancama, daivata and nisada jatis are called pure. When these are changed they are called distorted (vikrta). Though they all sang, Krsna did not sing at the same time as the gopis (amisrita). Another meaning of amisrita is that the gopis sang with pure jatis, not mixed with others. Being the most excellent singers, the gopis sang only in pure form. In an outstanding manner one gopis performed alapa (improvisation). Seeing the gopi sing so skillfully, Krsna honored her by giving his yellow cloth and other things. It should be understood that this gopi was Visakha. The alapa of one song was performed with dhuva tala with great expertise. Krsna honored her with ornaments like rings, other ornaments and garlands. Revealing even more wonderful qualities, this person could only be Lalita. Seeing that the gopis were reluctant to bring the ragas and raginis they sung to even greater levels of beauty, Radha herself then sang. From this we can understand that among all the gopis she was endowed with most excellent and attractive of all qualities.

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

The activities of the gopīs in prema are now described individually by taking the chief among the gopīs, as was done previously, in five and a half verses. One gopī followed after Kṛṣṇa (mukunda-samam), singing in an excellent way (un—ninye). It is said that saha (or samam) means “accompanying, in a secondary role.” Though she sang with Kṛṣṇa, her outstanding delivery of notes made them appear separately (amiśritāḥ). Thus she was worshipped by Kṛṣṇa. He said, “Very good! Very good!” He repeated his words out of joy or to emphasize her excellence. A gopīs sang a song. This is a song either without tāla (rhythm), expressing the nature of the rāga, or with ādi-tāla (8 + 4+ 4) which serves as an introduction. It became a song in the dhruva style: with either yati or niḥsāra tāla along with a song in two parts called bhoga. Kṛṣṇa honored her but even more. Or,svāra refers to the seven svāras resembling the sounds of animals such as the crying of the peacock. rañjakāḥ śrotṛ-cittānām svarāḥ sapta-vidhā matāḥ ṣaḍjarṣabhau ca gāndhāro madhyamaḥ pañcamas tathā daivatāś ca niṣāḍaś ca sarve syuḥ śruti-sambhavāḥ mayūra-cātaka-cchāga-krauñca-kokila-dardurāḥ mātaṅgaś ca krameṇāhuḥ svarānetān sudurgamān Notes attractive to the listerners are of seven types difficult to comprehend: ṣaḍja, ṛṣabha, gāndhara, madhyama, pañcama, daivata, and niṣāda. They all arise from the śrutis. They resemble respectively the cries of the peacock, cātaka, goat, curlew, cuckoo, frog, and elephant. Jātis are the sources of rāgas. It is said: rāgas tu jāyate yasyāḥ sā jātir abhidhīyate śuddhā ca vikṛtā ceti sā divdhā parikīrtitā śuddhā sapta-vidhā jñeyā taj jñaiḥ ṣāḍjyādi-bhedataḥ ṣaḍja-kaiśikyādi-bhedād ekādaśi vidhāparā That which gives rise to rāga is called jāti. There are two types: pure and altered. The pure jātis are of seven types, defined according to the seven svāras (seven notes of scale). The altered forms are of eleven types based on the chromatic (semitone) scale. Ṣāḍjyādi means the seven major notes ṣāḍja, ṛṣabha etc. Ṣaḍja-kaiśikyādi means the eleven semitones. Amiśritāḥ means the notes were only svāras and jātis with no other mixture. This can only be produced by an expert in musical knowledge. She sang expertly (un—ninye, utkṛṣṭām ninye).

Purport (Sanatana Goswami)

The activities of the gopīs in prema are now described individually by taking the chief among the gopīs, as was done previously, in five and a half verses. One gopī followed after Kṛṣṇa (mukunda-samam), singing in an excellent way (un—ninye). Unninye means she composed the song excellently or embellished it. She followed because he was the giver of the highest bliss (mukunda). And by this singing he gave the highest bliss to the universe. She was worshiped by Kṛṣṇa because though she sang with him, she also composed the melody independently. He worshipped her by praising her. He said, “Very good! Very good!” He repeated his words out of joy or to emphasize her excellence. Though she sang with Kṛṣṇa, her outstanding delivery of notes made them appear separately (amiśritāḥ). Amiśritāḥ also means pure. Jātayo ‘śtadaśa proktās tāsāṁ lakṣaṇam ucyate Śuddhāḥ syuḥ jātayaḥ sapta tāḥ ṣaḍjādi-svarābhidhāḥ Tā eva vikrṭāḥ satyo jātā vikṛta-saṁjṇitāḥ There are eighteen jātis. Their qualities are described. The pure jātis are the seven notes of the scale. When these are transformed they are called vikṛta. Saṅgīta-sāgara ṣāḍjarṣabhī ca gāndhārī madhyamā pañcamī tathā dhavatī cādha naiṣādī śuddhā etās tu jātayaḥ The pure jātis are ṣaḍja, ṛsabha, gāndhāra, madhyama, pañcamī, dhaivata, and niṣadī. Another gopīs sang. She was worshipped even more that the previous gopī. This indicates her skill in singing.