Devanagari
यशोदारोहिणीभ्यां ता: समं बालस्य सर्वत: ।
रक्षां विदधिरे सम्यग्गोपुच्छभ्रमणादिभि: ॥ १९ ॥
Verse text
yaśodā-rohiṇībhyāṁ tāḥ
samaṁ bālasya sarvataḥ
rakṣāṁ vidadhire samyag
go-puccha-bhramaṇādibhiḥ
Synonyms
yaśodā
—
rohiṇībhyām — with mother Yaśodā and mother Rohiṇī, who principally took charge of the child
;
tāḥ
—
the other gopīs
;
samam
—
equally as important as Yaśodā and Rohiṇī
;
bālasya
—
of the child
;
sarvataḥ
—
from all dangers
;
rakṣām
—
protection
;
vidadhire
—
executed
;
samyak
—
completely
;
go
—
puccha — bhramaṇa — ādibhiḥ — by waving around the switch of a cow .
Translation
Thereafter, mother Yaśodā and Rohiṇī, along with the other elderly gopīs, waved about the switch of a cow to give full protection to the child Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Thereafter, mother Yaśodā and Rohiṇī, along with the other elderly gopīs, waved about the switch of a cow to give full protection to the child Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
KB 10.6.19
Mother Yaśodā, Rohiṇī and other elder gopīs immediately performed the auspicious rituals by taking the tail of a cow and circumambulating His body.
Purport
When Kṛṣṇa was saved from such a great danger, mother Yaśodā and Rohiṇī were principally concerned, and the other elderly
gopīs,
who were almost equally concerned, followed the activities of mother Yaśodā and Rohiṇī. Here we find that in household affairs, ladies could take charge of protecting a child simply by taking help from the cow. As described here, they knew how to wave about the switch of a cow so as to protect the child from all types of danger. There are so many facilities afforded by cow protection, but people have forgotten these arts. The importance of protecting cows is therefore stressed by Kṛṣṇa in
Bhagavad-gītā
(
kṛṣi-go-rakṣya-vāṇijyaṁ vaiśya-karma svabhāvajam
). Even now in the Indian villages surrounding Vṛndāvana, the villagers live happily simply by giving protection to the cow. They keep cow dung very carefully and dry it to use as fuel. They keep a sufficient stock of grains, and because of giving protection to the cows, they have sufficient milk and milk products to solve all economic problems. Simply by giving protection to the cow, the villagers live so peacefully. Even the urine and stool of cows have medicinal value.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
This verse mentions that the gopis, along with Yasoda and Rohini performed rituals of protection. Yasoda and Rohin did not take a leading role because they were extremely affected by anxiety for Krsna’s safety. They protected him in all limbs (sarvatah), by waving a cow tail and other items such as mustard seeds and touching him with the edge of the winnowing basket.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
This verse and later verses show how they had the ability to protect him out of affection. Fearing for the health of the child, Yaśodā and Rohiṇī could not do anything at first. Thus, when it mentions that they performed actions in the verse, they were not the major performers. The others had the two women with them in order to pacify their grief. They performed actions to protect the child everywhere (sarvataḥ or sarvaśaḥ), inside and outside, for auspiciousness. They did this in the best way (samyag). They waved a tassel made of cow tail hairs and as well waved mustard seeds and touched a winnowing basket.