MY LOVELY COWHERD!

              

       1)    Thou, naughty cowherd on blue hills

               Blue as a cloud with lotus eyes

               Thy flute divine melodies spills

                Unseen mystic secrets profound;

      2)     With lithesome limbs thou playest with milkmaids

               Sharing cheese,cream and butter with thy mates;

               Dancing and sporting with hilarious stride

               As if God came to play with our destiny.

     3)      Beside the  flowing sylvan stream

              Even housewives by thy charms caught

              Stood round feeling unknown ecstasy

              Like orbs revolving round the radiant sun.

      4)    Thy pranks, jeers, quibbles and mischief

              Made them view Thee as a charming child

              No deep pondering thoughts but simple joy

              Like rising moon beyond our grasp.

     5)     Blue as vast endless universe

             Sweet as eternal throbbing charms

             Joyous as a merry pea-cock’s vibrant dance

             In Thee enjoyed all living beings.

    6)     People call Thee a flirting lover

            Courting maids who feel too much jealous

            Of one another vying for Thy kiss

            You gladden everyone with Thy gracious looks.

   7)      Oh, what a vast universal splendor

            With rapid moving spheres and shapes

             In such a small tiny mouth you showed

            As Thy mother stood dazed with awe and surprise!

   8)      A massive mountain, a lotus for thy touch

            A bulky serpent’s hood, a dancing altar

            A whirling demon, just a turning wheel

            A giant crane or steed, a toy for Thee.

   9)      I taunted you not like Thy lovers

            With fetters of warm interlocked embrace

            On Jamuna’s sand-dunes silver-white

            In lush jungles of Brindavan;

10)     My lovely Cowherd! Make me Thy flute

          Thy feather or a tender flower

          Or be a bird perching on a tree

          To hear Thy music under the shady bowers.

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       1)  Oh, what a vast Universal splendor -- refers to Krishna's act of revealing the cosmic form in his mouth when his fostermother yashoda asked him to show his mouth suspecting that he ate mud from the ground.

       2) A massive mountain -- refers to Krishna's act of lifting the Goverdhan hill and bearing it on his little finger for seven days and seven nights when Lord Indra showered stones from the sky as he was not worshipped by the inhabitants of Gokul village. Krishna by this act checked the arrogant pride of Indra, the lord of heaven.

   
      3) A bulky serpent's hoods --- Lord Krishna saved the Kalindi Lake from being polluted by the poisonous serpent Kaliya by dancing on his hoods and driving him away from that place to seek refuge in Ramanaka dweepa .

      4) A whirling demon --- Krishna's uncle, Kamsa sent many demons to kill Krishna as he was told by a heavenly voice that he would meet his end in the hands of Krishna. So a demon called Trinavarta was sent by him who went in the form of a powerful whirlwind to lift krishna and dash him against the hillside.. But Krishna killed that demon by becoming heavier and by tightening his grip around the demon's throat.   

      5) A giant crane --- Kamsa the king of Madhura sent a demon called Bakasura in the form of a giant crane to kill Krishna. The giant crane swallowed the tiny child Krishna but was quickly forced to throw out the child as felt intense heat in his throat. Krishna grabbed Bakasura's beak and broke it in two and killed him.    

      6) A giant steed -- Kamsa sent a powerful demon called Keshi who took the form of a mad giant horse and tried to trample Krishna. Krishna caught hold of Keshi's legs and and tossed him in the air. When the giant horse tried to swallow him Krishna thrust his arm into Keshi's mouth and expanded it to enormous size; Keshi became breathless and died on the spot . 
          

      7) Brindavan --- Krishna as a child used to play and dance with his cowherd friends and milk maids in the jungle called Brindavan where he went with his friends to graze cattle. it is fifteen kilometers from the city of Madhura. The river Jamuna or Yamuna flows through Brindavan and Madhura.

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               28th April, 2019                                           Somaseshu Gutala