Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.36.3-4
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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nirhrāditena
—
by the reverberating sound
From nir + √hrad — to roar, resound. The sound itself is named the agent of harm; Vraja is so attuned to sweet sound that violent sound alone causes miscarriage in cows and women.
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garbhāḥ
—
the fetuses
What the demon's noise destroys is generation itself — Vraja's whole economy is calves, milk, butter, children. The threat is precisely to fertility, which is Kṛṣṇa's own gift to His pasture.
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acala - śaṅkayā
—
mistaking (it) for a mountain
Acala (immovable, mountain) + śaṅkā (suspicion, mistaken notion). The clouds' error foreshadows Kaṁsa's: an inflated form is taken for a real power. Both errors will be corrected by the same boy.
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gopyaḥ
—
the cowherd women
The gopīs, the supreme reservoir of mādhurya-bhakti. Their fear here is not lack of faith but pure parakīya-anxiety for the safety of their dear Kṛṣṇa — a bhāva, not a defect.
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tīkṣṇa
—
sharp
Tīkṣṇa-śṛṅgam — sharp-horned. The word is later inverted in this chapter when Kṛṣṇa rips out one horn and uses it against the demon: the sharpness Ariṣṭa brought becomes his own punishment.
The Vedic literature categorizes miscarriages as follows: Ā-caturthād bhavet srāvaḥ pātaḥ pañcama-ṣaṣṭhayoḥ/ ata ūrdhvaṁ prasūtiḥ syāt. “Up to the fourth month a premature delivery is called srāva, in the fifth and sixth months it is called pāta, and after this it is considered a birth ( prasūti ).”
Due to his load roaring the cows and women had miscarriages. Up to the fourth month, miscarriage is called "srava" and in the fifth and sixth month miscarriage is called "pata".
The great fear caused by the demon is described. His roaring seemed to crush Vraja. Śukadeva calls out to Parīkṣit (aṅga) with fear. Sma indicates that it was well known and vai means certainly. The word mahā mentioned previously indicates his size. He had a huge hump upon which the cloud, mistaking it for a mountain, rested. This is a metaphor since the cloud is unconscious. His hump and a mountain were both high, reaching the clouds. What to speak of the women, who are easily frightened by their nature, the men were also terrified. sa toyatoyada-cchāyas tīkṣṇa-śṛṅgo ‘rka-locanaḥ / lelihānaḥ saniṣpeṣaṁ jihvayoṣṭhau punaḥ punaḥ / saṁraṁbhāviddha-lāṅgūlaḥ kaṭhinas kandha-bandhanaḥ // udagra-kakudābhoga-pramāṇo dur-atikramaḥ / viṇmūtra-lipta-pṛṣṭhāṅgo gavam udvega-kārakaḥ // pralaṁba-kaṇṭho 'timukhas tarughātāṅkitānanaḥ / sūdayaṁs tāpasān ugro vanān aṭati yaḥ sadā // He had the complexion of a cloud and had sharp horns and eyes blazing like the sun. He repeatedly licked his lips with sound. He twirled his tail in pride. His shoulders were tough and his hump was huge and impossible to pass over. His body was smeared with urine and stool. He caused panic in the cows. Skin hung from his throat. His face was scarred by being hit by trees. He always wandered in the forest to attack the sages doing austerities. The people had to look upwards (udvīṣya) to see him, since he was huge. The animals were frightened because of his evil nature. yuddha-sajja-viṣāṇāgro dviṣad vṛṣabha-sūdanaḥ ariṣṭo nāma hi gavām ariṣto dāruṇākṛtiḥ daityo vṛṣabha-rūpeṇa gokulaṁ paridhāvati pātayāno gavāṁ garbhān dhrsṭo gacchaty anārtavam bhaṣjamānaś ca capalo goṣṭaṁ saṁpraccāra ha śṛṅga-praharaṇo raudraḥ praharan goṣu durmadaḥ goṣṭhe tu na ratīm lebhe vinā yuddhena go-vṛṣaḥ The demon named Ariṣṭa, killer of bulls and enemy of the cows, with frightful form and with huge horns for fighting, ran around Gokula. He made the cows abort and become barren. He wandered through the village, breaking everything. With anger he attacked the cows with his horns. He was not satisfied, since he could not fight. The demon had not come to Vraja up to this time, because Kaṁsa had not permitted him.
Clouds mistaking the demon's hump for a mountain shows how a counterfeit can briefly fool even the sky. But in a moment Kṛṣṇa will dismantle the illusion with bare hands, and the same clouds will scatter flowers on Him instead.
Earlier in this same canto (SB 10.16), Kṛṣṇa enters another fearful Vraja moment — Kāliya's poisoned bend of the Yamunā. The gopas and gopīs cry out, pregnant cows and women are at risk, and Kṛṣṇa goes in alone.
The Bhāgavatam keeps re-staging this scene: a localized terror in Vraja, the residents' single recourse being Kṛṣṇa, and the terror dissolved into a festival. Ariṣṭa's roar is the bull-version of Kāliya's venom.
My note
Source: vedabase.io