1 · Learn4 of 6 · 5 min

Study a Verse

Read one verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam with its Sanskrit, word meanings, translation and study points.

Or browse by canto and chapter

Canto

Canto 8 · Withdrawal of the Cosmic Creations · 24 chapters

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Choose a chapter to see all its verses.

How to study this verse, in six steps

1Chant the verse. Say the Sanskrit slowly and carefully.
2Read the word meanings. Go through each Sanskrit word and its meaning.
3Find the meaning yourself. Before the translation, piece the meaning together from the words.
4Read the translation. Ask: what is the Lord teaching here, and how does it apply to my life?
5Read the purport slowly. Read it two or three times. Don't rush.
6Write down what touched you. Note the main points in your own notebook.

Read the full guide: how to hear the Bhāgavatam ›

Canto 8 · Chapter 15: Bali Mahārāja Conquers the Heavenly Planets

8.15.16 8.15.18

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam · Text 8.15.17

Sthāna· The universe in order

Who is speaking and story frame

Speaking:Śukadeva Gosvāmīsince 8.15.3inside 2 frames: Sūta Gosvāmī → the sages at NaimiṣāraṇyaŚukadeva Gosvāmī → King Parīkṣit

यत्र नित्यवयोरूपा: श्यामा विरजवासस: ।

भ्राजन्ते रूपवन्नार्यो ह्यर्चिर्भिरिव वह्नय: ॥ १७ ॥

yatra nitya-vayo-rūpāḥ

śyāmā viraja-vāsasaḥ

bhrājante rūpavan-nāryo

hy arcirbhir iva vahnayaḥ

Translation

Everlastingly beautiful and youthful women, who were dressed with clean garments, glittered in the city like fires with flames. They all possessed the quality of śyāmā.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io

Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

Youthful Beauty and the Quality Śyāmā

1
The women in the city were everlastingly beautiful and youthful. Dressed in clean garments, they glittered like fires with flames.
2
They all possessed the quality of śyāmā. The purport explains this term by citing Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura.
3
A śyāmā woman's body is very warm during winter and cool during summer. The description also includes generally very firm breasts.

Key points from the purport

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura gives a hint of the quality of the śyāmā woman.
A woman whose body is very warm during the winter and cool during the summer and who generally has very firm breasts is called śyāmā.

Śrīla Prabhupāda's own sentences, chosen from the purport as its central points. Read the full purport on Vedabase to see them in place.

How it feels

Loss and hope → Revelation. A shift in fortune sets up a spiritual test.

Chapters 15–18 of Canto 8: Bali, Aditi and Vāmana's appearance. An editorial reading of the story's mood, not the text itself. See the emotional arc

Chapter 15: Bali Mahārāja Conquers the Heavenly Planets

From the chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:

When this yajña was performed, from the fire of yajña came a chariot, horses, a flag, a bow, armor and two quivers of arrows. Mahārāja Prahlāda, Bali Mahārāja’s grandfather, gave Bali an eternal garland of flowers, and Śukrācārya gave him a conchshell.

Read the whole chapter summary Back to this verse in chapter 8.15