Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.34.9
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
-
śrī-mat-pāda-sparśa
—
the touch of (the Lord's) divine foot
Śrī-mat = bearing fortune, divine. The whole compound is the verse's pivot: the smallest contact with bhagavat-pāda is the largest karmic event. Gauḍīyas read it as confirmation that arcanam and pādodaka-sevā are not symbolic but operative.
-
hata-aśubhaḥ
—
one whose inauspiciousness is destroyed
Hata (struck, slain) + aśubha (inauspicious karma). Pāda-sparśa kills aśubha as the sun kills dawn-mist. The snake-body was the visible aśubha; with the cause gone, the effect cannot remain.
-
sarpa-vapuḥ hitvā
—
giving up the serpent body
Vapuḥ = body, form (often the beautiful or noticed body). Hitvā (having abandoned) — the participle suggests volitional shedding, not death. Liberation here is not annihilation but exchange of forms: the lower vapuḥ for the worshipable one.
-
vidyādhara
—
a Vidyādhara (celestial expert in vidyās)
From vidyā (knowledge, esp. magical arts) + dhara (bearer). A class of demigods skilled in mystic arts, often beautiful and aerial. The cursed form was a python; the original form is one of light. Saṁsāra always disguises the jīva in a body smaller than itself.
The words rūpaṁ vidyādharārcitam indicate that the erstwhile snake appeared in a beautiful form worshipable among the demigods called Vidyādharas. In other words, he appeared as the leader of the Vidyādharas.
Being worshipped by the Vidyadharas indicates that the person freed from offenses by the touch or Krsna’s foot was the best of the Vidyadharas.
Vai means it is accomplished. By the touch of the foot, endowed with a wealth of all sweetness (śrīmat), of Kṛṣṇa, who displayed his unlimited power (bhagavataḥ), the snake was freed from his unlimited sins of many births, culminating in his great offense. The word śrīmat suggests that if his foot was endowed with such sweetness, how much more his other limbs were sweeter. The touch of his foot is mentioned again in this verse, to show it great respect. Touching him with his foot was not so wonderful. Rather he attained a form rare among the Vidyādharas. He attained a form better than his previous one. Or the two verses can be taken together. Though being beaten, the snake did not release Nanda. Kṛṣṇa came to it and touched it with his foot, and simply by the touch, the snake released Nanda since Nanda was full of all powers (bhagavān) and lord of the devotees (sātvatām patiḥ). The verb “released” is understood as in the case of praviśa piṇḍīm (enter and accept an oblation.) Otherwise without letting go of Nanda it would not be suitable of the Lord to ask him questions later. He was indeed a snake (sa vai) and having his inauspiciousness removed by the touch of the Lord’s feet, with that body itself, without being killed, was transformed into a Vidyādhara from. This was because of the Lord with his acintya-śakti (bhagavataḥ). This remarkable touch is also seen in the case of transforming the bodies of Kubjā and the weaver in Mathurā.
Vai means it is accomplished. By the touch of the foot, endowed with a wealth of all good qualities (śrīmat), of Kṛṣṇa, who displayed his unlimited power (bhagavataḥ), the snake was freed from his unlimited sins of many births or his great offense which could not be counteracted by any means. The touch of his beautiful foot is mentioned again in this verse, that it could produce great beauty. The snake attained a form rare among the Vidyādharas. He attained a form more beautiful than his previous one.
One light footfall, and the serpent-skin sloughs off — out steps a Vidyādhara in gold necklaces, glowing. Karma is a costume; touch of Kṛṣṇa is the wardrobe-change. The form that hungered and bit a moment ago now bows; the same person, only the upādhi has burned away in the pada-sparśa.
Earlier in Canto 10 (chapter 6), the witch Pūtanā comes to murder the infant Kṛṣṇa with a poisoned breast, and He drinks her life along with the milk. When her colossal corpse is burned, the smoke smells like aguru — and tradition affirms she was given the position of a nurse in Vaikuṇṭha for the favor of having offered her breast, even with murderous intent.
Gauḍīyas pair Pūtanā and Sudarśana-vidyādhara as the classic pair: whoever Bhagavān touches — even in punishment, even by accident, even hostilely — leaves the contact transformed. The cursed snake-body sloughs off; the worshipable form remains.
My note
Source: vedabase.io