SB 3.1.27 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

कच्चित्कुरूणां परम: सुहृन्नो भाम: स आस्ते सुखमङ्ग शौरि: । यो वै स्वसृणां पितृवद्ददाति वरान् वदान्यो वरतर्पणेन ॥ २७ ॥

Verse text

kaccit kurūṇāṁ paramaḥ suhṛn no bhāmaḥ sa āste sukham aṅga śauriḥ yo vai svasṝṇāṁ pitṛvad dadāti varān vadānyo vara-tarpaṇena

Synonyms

kaccit — whether ; kurūṇām — of the Kurus ; paramaḥ — greatest ; suhṛt — well-wisher ; naḥ — our ; bhāmaḥ — brother-in-law ; saḥ — he ; āste — is ; sukham — happy ; aṅga — O Uddhava ; śauriḥ — Vasudeva ; yaḥ — one who ; vai — certainly ; svasṝṇām — of the sisters ; pitṛ — vat — like a father ; dadāti — gives ; varān — everything desirable ; vadānyaḥ — munificent ; vara — wife ; tarpaṇena — by pleasing .

Translation

[Please tell me] whether the best friend of the Kurus, our brother-in-law Vasudeva, is doing well. He is very munificent. He is like a father to his sisters, and he is always pleasing to his wives.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

How is our friend Vasudeva, the greatest of the Kurus, and the husband of our sister, who, generous like a father to Kuntī and her sisters, gave gifts for the pleasure of their husbands? Bhāmaḥ means that Vasudeva was the husband of Vidura’s sister-in-law, since Vidura and others were brothers-in-law to Devakī through Kuntī, Vasudeva’s sister. Śauri is Vasudeva. Vasudeva had greatest affection for Kuntī among all his sisters. When it mentions here that he was like a father to his sisters, it means he had great affection for Kuntī, since he did not show such affection to the other sisters.

Purport

Lord Kṛṣṇa’s father, Vasudeva, had sixteen wives, and one of them, named Pauravī or Rohiṇī, the mother of Baladeva, was the sister of Vidura. Vasudeva, therefore, was the husband of Vidura’s sister, and thus they were brothers-in-law. Vasudeva’s sister Kuntī was the wife of Pāṇḍu, Vidura’s elder brother, and in that sense also, Vasudeva was brother-in-law to Vidura. Kuntī was younger than Vasudeva, and it was the duty of the elder brother to treat younger sisters as daughters. Whenever anything was needed by Kuntī, it was munificently delivered by Vasudeva, due to his great love for his younger sister. Vasudeva never dissatisfied his wives, and at the same time he supplied the objects desired by his sister. He had special attention for Kuntī because she became a widow at an early age. While inquiring about Vasudeva’s welfare, Vidura remembered all about him and the family relationship.