FolioCorpusBhagavad-gītā

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.50.21

సుపర్ణతాలధ్వజచిహ్నితౌ రథా- వలక్షయన్త్యో హరిరామయోర్మృధే । స్‍త్రియ: పురాట్టాలకహర్మ్యగోపురం సమాశ్రితా: సమ్ముముహు: శుచార్దితా: ॥ ౨౧ ॥
suparṇa-tāla-dhvaja-cihitnau rathāv
[suparna-taala-dhvaja-chihitnau rathaav]
alakṣayantyo hari-rāmayor mṛdhe
[alakshayantyo hari-raamayor mridhe]
striyaḥ purāṭṭālaka-harmya-gopuraṁ
[striyah puraattaalaka-harmya-gopuram]
samāśritāḥ sammumuhuḥ śucārditaḥ
[samaashritaah sammumuhuh shuchaarditah]
suparṇa — with (the symbol of) Garuḍa (the bird who carries Lord Viṣṇu) tāla — and the palm tree dhvaja — by the banners cihnitau — marked rathau — the two chariots alakṣayantyaḥ — not identifying hari - rāmayoḥ — of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma mṛdhe — in the battle striyaḥ — women pura — of the city aṭṭālaka — in the watchtowers harmya — palaces gopuram — and in the gateways samāśritāḥ — having taken positions sammumuhuḥ — fainted śucā — by grief arditāḥ — tormented .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
suparṇa-tāla-dhvaja-cihitnau rathāv
suparṇa
with (the symbol of) Garuḍa (the bird who carries Lord Viṣṇu)
tāla
and the palm tree
dhvaja
by the banners
cihnitau
marked
rathau
the two chariots
alakṣayantyo hari-rāmayor mṛdhe
alakṣayantyaḥ
not identifying
hari - rāmayoḥ
of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma
mṛdhe
in the battle
striyaḥ purāṭṭālaka-harmya-gopuraṁ
striyaḥ
women
pura
of the city
aṭṭālaka
in the watchtowers
harmya
palaces
gopuram
and in the gateways
samāśritāḥ sammumuhuḥ śucārditaḥ
samāśritāḥ
having taken positions
sammumuhuḥ
fainted
śucā
by grief
arditāḥ
tormented .
  • suparṇa — Garuḍa, the bird who carries Lord Viṣṇu
    Garuḍa is Kṛṣṇa's eternal carrier and Vaiṣṇava emblem. The banner identifies the chariot as Viṣṇu-tattva even in human disguise. To see the banner is to see Kṛṣṇa's identity flagged in plain sight.
  • tāla-dhvaja — the palm-tree banner
    Balarāma's emblem. The tāla-vana was the demon Dhenuka's forest cleared by the brothers in 10.15 — Balarāma's banner thus encodes a specific victory of his. Banners in Vedic warfare carry one's defining feat.
  • sammumuhuḥ — they fainted
    Sam + √muh — completely bewildered, lost consciousness. Sāttvika-vikāra term in Gauḍīya rasa-śāstra. The women's fainting is a foreshadow of the women of Mathurā at Kṛṣṇa's later departure to Dvārakā (next chapter cycle).
  • arditāḥ — tormented
    Past participle of √ard — afflicted, pierced. The women are arditāḥ śucā, pierced by grief. Even before Kṛṣṇa is endangered, the bare possibility of harm to Him produces full-scale śoka. Vipralambha-bhāva: the rasa of separation begins not at separation itself but at its mere possibility.
The women stood in the watchtowers, palaces and high gates of the city. When they could no longer see Kṛṣṇa’s and Balarāma’s chariots, identified by banners marked with the emblems of Garuḍa and a palm tree, they were struck with grief and fainted.

The women are especially mentioned here because of their extraordinary attachment to Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Balarāma.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
The women stood in the watchtowers, palaces and high gates of the city. When they could no longer see Kṛṣṇa's and Balarāma's chariots, identified by banners marked with the emblems of Garuḍa and a palm tree, they were struck with grief and fainted.
Commentary

The women, being more attracted to Krsna than the men, were filled with intense grief (sucarpitah).

Jīva Gosvāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

The women could still see the flags on the chariots. Kṛṣṇa attracted their minds (hari) and Balarāma gave pleasure to their minds (rāmayoḥ). This shows that the women were very attached to them. They climbed to rooms on top of the fort, to rooms high in the palace and on to the gates but Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma could not be seen by them in the battlefield. They thought they saw something of them however. They became overwhelmed with lamentation. Instead of arditāḥ (in pain) sometimes arpitāḥ is seen. Being in great pain, they fainted since they were women. It was their nature to have hearts soft with affection.

Concepts
Jiva

The women of Mathurā watch from the rooftops; when they can no longer see the Garuḍa-banner and the palm-banner, they faint. Their swoon is not weakness but the deepest viraha-vedanā: separation from the sight of Kṛṣṇa, even briefly, is intolerable.

The gopīs' fainting at the flute

All through Canto 10 the women in Kṛṣṇa's vicinity faint at the prospect of His absence — at His departure to Madhuvana (10.39), at Akrūra's chariot leaving Vraja (10.39–40), here in Mathurā when His banner disappears. The pattern is one rasa: separation-shock proportional to attachment.

Gauḍīya rasa-śāstra treats such fainting (mūrcchā) as a sāttvika-vikāra — a bodily symptom of intense bhāva. The Mathurā women here taste a foretaste of the great viraha that will define Vraja after Kṛṣṇa's own departure to Dvārakā.

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