Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.19.15
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
-
sāya-ahne
—
in the late afternoon
Compound: sāya (evening) + ahne (locative of ahar, day). Vraja's specific hour — when the cows return, when the gopīs wait, when the dust of the herd rises. Gauḍīya rāgānuga-meditation often centers on this hour (sāyaṁ-kālīya-līlā).
-
janārdanaḥ
—
Śrī Kṛṣṇa
Literally jana-ardana — one who agitates / extinguishes (the demonic among) people. A standard Bhāgavatam title, here understated: He has just swallowed a forest fire; the name is no exaggeration.
-
veṇum
—
His flute
From √veṇ. The single most concentrated emblem of Vraja-mādhurya. After every līlā, the flute returns. Rūpa Gosvāmī devotes whole works to its sound — the call by which the gopīs are drawn.
-
viraṇayan
—
playing in a specific way
Causative present participle of vi + √raṇ — making sound in a particular pattern. Vraja's poetry is precise: He does not just play, He plays viraṇayan — a particular tune for the homeward hour.
-
abhiṣṭutaḥ
—
being praised
Past participle of abhi + √stu — to praise toward. The boys, walking beside Him, praise Him aloud. This is sakhya-saṅkīrtana — the cowherd-boy form of nāma-saṅkīrtana, the first answer to having been saved.
Janardana suggests two things. Ardana means pain and asking. Desiring to separate from the forest creatures (jana), he caused pain (ardana). Desiring to meet the inhabitants of Vraja he made the desire to request him to come arise in their hearts. Janaradana, who caused pain to the forest dwellers by separating from them and caused the inhabitants of Vraja to request his return, entered the village playing a special tune on his flute, while the boys praised him.
Janārdana means “he whom the people of Vraja (jana) request (ardana) to see at all times.”
He turned the cows back to Vraja with Balarāma (saha-rāmaḥ). Janārdana means “he whom the people of Vraja (jana) request (ardana) to see at all times.” He played his flute in a special manner (viraṇayan).
- What's the 'evening procession' of my day, and is it musical?
- Where do I end the day in noise of news or anxiety rather than chant?
Late afternoon, the danger past, Kṛṣṇa turns the cows toward home, plays His flute in a special way, and walks back to the village with His friends praising Him. The whole crisis closes on the sound of the flute. This is Vraja's signature ending — every storm resolves into the veṇu-gīta and the homeward path to Yaśodā.
In SB 10.21, the gopīs describe in detail what the sound of Kṛṣṇa's flute does — rivers stop, peacocks dance, the cows lift their ears. The Bhāgavatam treats the veṇu as a continuing līlā-instrument, not background music.
Here, after the fire, the same flute returns. The point is theological: after every emergency the Lord plays the flute again, and the village comes back into rasa. The flute is the sign that the rasa survived.
My note
Source: vedabase.io