Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 8.15.17
यत्र नित्यवयोरूपा: श्यामा विरजवासस: ।
भ्राजन्ते रूपवन्नार्यो ह्यर्चिर्भिरिव वह्नय: ॥ १७ ॥
yatra nitya-vayo-rūpāḥ
[yatra nitya-vayo-roopaah]
śyāmā viraja-vāsasaḥ
[shyaamaa viraja-vaasasah]
bhrājante rūpavan-nāryo
[bhraajante roopavan-naaryo]
hy arcirbhir iva vahnayaḥ
[hy archirbhir iva vahnayah]
Word-for-word
yatra
—
in that city
nitya-vayaḥ-rūpāḥ
—
who were ever beautiful and young
śyāmāḥ
—
possessing the quality of śyāmā
viraja-vāsasaḥ
—
always dressed with clean garments
bhrājante
—
glitter
rūpa-vat
—
well decorated
nāryaḥ
—
women
hi
—
certainly
arcirbhiḥ
—
with many flames
iva
—
like
vahnayaḥ
—
fires.
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
yatra nitya-vayo-rūpāḥ
yatra
in that city
nitya-vayaḥ-rūpāḥ
who were ever beautiful and young
śyāmā viraja-vāsasaḥ
śyāmāḥ
possessing the quality of śyāmā
viraja-vāsasaḥ
always dressed with clean garments
bhrājante rūpavan-nāryo
bhrājante
glitter
rūpa-vat
well decorated
nāryaḥ
women
hy arcirbhir iva vahnayaḥ
hi
certainly
arcirbhiḥ
with many flames
iva
like
vahnayaḥ
fires.
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.
Purport
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura gives a hint of the quality of the śyāmā woman.
śīta-kāle bhaved uṣṇā uṣma-kāle suśītalāḥ stanau sukaṭhinau yāsāṁ tāḥ śyāmāḥ parikīrtitāḥ
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.
— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Gauḍīya Ācāryas
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura
Gauḍīya
Translation
Everlastingly beautiful and youthful women known as śyāma, who were dressed with clean garments, shone in the city like fires with flames.
A śyāmā woman is a woman who has warm limbs during the cold and cool limbs during the hot season, and whose breasts are very firm.
Personal Guidance
Everlastingly beautiful and youthful women, dressed cleanly, glittered like fires with flames — śyāmā women, warm in winter and cool in summer. The opulence includes specific qualities of pleasing companionship.
Reflection Questions
- Do I treat companionship as a coincidence or as part of the structured opulence of dharmic life?
- What 'śyāmā' quality — adaptive, responsive — am I cultivating in my own way of being with others?
My note
Source: vedabase.io