Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.70.20
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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mṛdaṅga
—
two-headed clay drum
The mṛdaṅga is the Gauḍīya saṅkīrtana instrument par excellence; Mahāprabhu's parties were known by its sound. Its appearance here in Bhagavān's morning court establishes it as the eternal kīrtana-instrument.
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veṇu
—
flute
Veṇu in any Bhāgavata verse cannot be heard without recalling Kṛṣṇa's own flute at Vraja. Here in Dvārakā He has put down His flute and is being played for — the Vraja-instrument has become His courtly companion.
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tuṣṭuvuḥ
—
they praised, offered stuti
Stuti — formal verses of praise — is one of the nine limbs of bhakti (śravaṇa, kīrtana, smaraṇa, pāda-sevana, arcana, vandana, dāsya, sakhya, ātma-nivedana). The royal bards perform vandana daily.
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māgadha
—
reciter of itihāsa, royal historian
The māgadha recounts the king's ancestry. For Kṛṣṇa, this means reciting the līlās of His own previous avatāras and ancestors — itihāsa as theology. The Bhāgavatam itself is the perfected māgadha-recital.
Groups danced and other groups sang. The bards and others offered praises.
The singing and dancing of the bards was more exceptional than the previous singing and dancing.
The description is further enhanced. They sang and danced with drums etc. Or the chief performers (natācāryāḥ) would serve by dramatic gestures (tāṇḍavaih) and the female dancers would dance and sing with instrumental accompaniment. Muraja is a type of drum.
Drums, vīṇās, flutes, cymbals, and conches — the whole orchestra of creation — playing in His court, with bards reciting His own glories: it is like the sea reciting itself back to the moon that pulls it. Bhakti makes the kīrtana of Kṛṣṇa the centre of every gathering, even His own.
In Caitanya-caritāmṛta, the saṅkīrtana parties at Śrīvāsa's house in Navadvīpa used the same instruments — mṛdaṅga, kartāla, vīṇā, śaṅkha — that this verse names in Dvārakā.
The Six Gosvāmīs codified saṅkīrtana with these same instruments. The Dvārakā morning court here is the source-image: kīrtana of Kṛṣṇa in Kṛṣṇa's own presence is the eternal rasa, repeated wherever vaiṣṇavas gather.
My note
Source: vedabase.io