Meeting of Nanda and Vasudeva 39

their heavy hips and swollen breasts, the gopis could not proceed very
quickly towards the house of Nanda Maharaja, but out of ecstatic love for
Krsna they began to proceed as quickly as possible. Their ears were deco-
rated with pearl rings, their necks were decorated with jewel padlocks,
their lips and eyes were decorated with different kinds of lipstick and
ointment, and their hands were decorated with nice golden bangles. As
they were very hastily passing over the stone road, the flower garlands
which were decorating their bodies fell to the ground, and it appeared that
a shower of flowers was falling from the sky. From the movement of the
different kinds of ornaments on their bodies, they were looking still more
beautiful. In this way, they all reached the house of Nanda-Yasgoda and
blessed the child: “Dear child, You live long just to protect us.” While
they were blessing child Krsna in this way, they offered a mixture of
turmeric powder with oil, yogurt, milk and water. They not only sprinkled
this mixture on the body of child Krsna but on all other persons who were
present there. Also on that auspicious occasion, there were different bands
of expert musicians playing.

When the cowherd men saw the pastimes of the cowherd women, they
became very joyful, and in response they also began to throw yogurt,
milk, clarified butter and water upon the bodies of the gopis. Then both
parties began to throw butter on each other’s bodies. Nanda Maharaja was
also very happy to see the pastimes of the cowherd men and women, and
he became very liberal in giving charity to the different singers who were
assembled there. Some singers were reciting great verses from the Upanisads
and Purdnas, some were glorifying the family ancestors, and some were
singing very sweet songs. There were also many learned brahmanas present,
and Nanda Maharaja, being very satisfied on this occasion, began to give
them different kinds of garments, ornaments, and cows in charity.

It is very important to note in this connection how wealthy the inhabi-
tants of Vrndavana were simply by raising cows. All the cowherd men
belonged to the vaisya community, and their business was to protect the
cows and cultivate crops. By their dress and ornaments and by their be-
havior, it appears that although they were in a small village, they still were
rich in material possessions. They possessed such an abundance of various
kinds of milk products that they were throwing butter lavishly on each
other’s bodies without restriction. Their wealth was in milk, yogurt,
clarified butter and many other milk products, and by trading their agri-
cultural products, they were rich in various kinds of jewelry, ornaments
and costly dresses. Not only did they possess all these things, but they
could give them away in charity, as did Nanda Maharaja.
