Canto 8: Withdrawal of the Cosmic CreationsChapter 8: The Churning of the Milk Ocean

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 8.8.15

samudraḥ pīta-kauśeya-

vāsasī samupāharat

varuṇaḥ srajaḿ vaijayantīḿ

madhunā matta-ṣaṭpadām

SYNONYMS

samudraḥ — the ocean; pīta-kauśeya — yellow silk; vāsasī — both the upper and lower portions of a garment; samupāharat — presented; varuṇaḥ — the predominating deity of the water; srajam — garland; vaijayantīm — the most decorated and the biggest; madhunā — with honey; matta — drunken; ṣaṭ-padām — bumblebees, which have six legs.

TRANSLATION

The ocean, which is the source of all valuable jewels, supplied the upper and lower portions of a yellow silken garment. The predominating deity of the water, Varuṇa, presented flower garlands surrounded by six-legged bumblebees, drunken with honey.

PURPORT

When bathing the Deity in the abhiṣeka ceremony with various liquids, such as milk, honey, yogurt, ghee, cow dung and cow urine, it is customary to supply yellow garments. In this way the abhiṣeka ceremony for the goddess of fortune was performed according to the regular Vedic principles.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness