1034 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 4, Ch. 24

TEXT 11

aust tata = yasfe |
ai dhea areas Feat agreRATy |
aktaasdgste aaashi: Thea

samudrim devadevoktam
upayeme satadrutim

yam viksya caru-sarvangim
kigorim susthv-alankrtam

parikramantim udvahe
cakame ‘gnih sukim iva

simudrim—unto the daughter of the ocean; devadeva-uktam—being
advised by the supreme demigod, Lord Brahma; upayeme— married;
satadrutim—of the name Satadruti; yam—whom; viksya—seeing; caru—very
attractive; sarva-angim—all the features of the body; kisorim—youthful;
susthu—sufficiently ; alankrtam—decorated with ornaments; parikraman-
tim—circumambulating; udvahe—in the marriage ceremony; cakame—
became attracted; agnih—the fire-god; sukim—unto Suki; iva—like.

TRANSLATION

Maharaja Barhigat—henceforward known as Pracinabarhi—was ordered
by the supreme demigod Lord Brahma to marry the daughter of the ocean
named Satadruti. Her bodily features were completely beautiful, and she
was very young. She was decorated with the proper garments, and when
she came into the marriage arena and began circumambulating it, the fire-
god Agni became so attracted to her that he desired her company, exactly
as he had formerly desired to enjoy Suki.

PURPORT

In this verse the word susthv-alankrtam is significant. According to the
Vedic system, when a girl is married, she is very profusely and gorgeously
decorated with costly saris and jewelry, and during the marriage ceremony
the bride circumambulates the bridegroom seven times. After this, the
bridegroom and bride look at one another and become attracted for life.
When the bridegroom finds the bride very beautiful, the attraction between
them immediately becomes very strongly fixed. As stated in Srimad-
Bhagavatam, men and women are naturally attracted to one another, and
when they are united by marriage that attraction becomes very strong.
Being so strongly attracted, the bridegroom attempts to set up a nice home-
stead and eventually a good field for producing grains. Then children come,
