Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 10 - Chapter 1 - Verse 18-19


Sanskrit:

मणिधर: क्‍वचिदागणयन् गामालया दयितगन्धतुलस्या: ।प्रणयिनोऽनुचरस्य कदांसेप्रक्षिपन् भुजमगायत यत्र ॥ १८ ॥क्‍वणितवेणुरववञ्चितचित्ता:कृष्णमन्वसत कृष्णगृहिण्य: ।गुणगणार्णमनुगत्य हरिण्योगोपिका इव विमुक्तगृहाशा: ॥ १९ ॥

ITRANS:

maṇi-dharaḥ kvacid āgaṇayan gāmālayā dayita-gandha-tulasyāḥpraṇayino ’nucarasya kadāṁseprakṣipan bhujam agāyata yatra

Translation:

Now Kṛṣṇa is standing somewhere counting His cows on a string of gems. He wears a garland of tulasī flowers that bear the fragrance of His beloved, and He has thrown His arm over the shoulder of an affectionate cowherd boyfriend. As Kṛṣṇa plays His flute and sings, the music attracts the black deer’s wives, who approach that ocean of transcendental qualities and sit down beside Him. Just like us cowherd girls, they have given up all hope for happiness in family life.

Purport:

Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī explains that in the afternoon Śrī Kṛṣṇa dressed Himself in new clothing and then went out to call the cows home. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī gives the following information about the transcendental cows of Vṛndāvana: “For each of the four colors of cows — white, red, black and yellow — there are twenty-five subdivisions, making a total of one hundred colors. And such qualities as being colored like sandalwood-pulp tilaka [speckled] or having a head shaped like a mṛdaṅga drum create eight further groups. To count these 108 groups of cows, distinguished by color and form, Kṛṣṇa is using a string of 108 jewel-beads.… “Thus when Kṛṣṇa calls out ‘Hey Dhavalī [the name of a white cow],’ a whole group of white cows come forward, and when He calls ‘Haṁsī, Candanī, Gaṅgā, Muktā‘ and so on, the twenty-four other groups of white cows come. The reddish cows are called Aruṇī, Kuṅkuma, Sarasvatī, etc., the blackish ones Śyāmalā, Dhūmalā, Yamunā, etc., and the yellowish ones Pītā, Piṅgalā, Haritālikā, etc. Those in the group with tilaka marks on their foreheads are called Citritā, Citra-tilakā, Dīrgha-tilakā and Tiryak-tilakā, and there are groups known as Mṛdaṅga-mukhī [mṛdaṅga-head], Siṁha-mukhī [lion-head] and so on. “Thus being called by name, the cows are coming forward, and Kṛṣṇa, thinking that when it is time to bring them back from the forest none should be forgotten, is counting them on His jewel-beads.”