Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.90.29
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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gṛha-medhinām
—
of householders
Compound: gṛha (home) + medhin (one who sacrifices). The gṛha-medhī is the householder who maintains domestic fire and sacrifices. Bhāgavatam distinguishes gṛha-medhī (attached) from gṛhastha (dutiful) — Kṛṣṇa demonstrates the dharmic ideal of the latter.
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param dharmam
—
the highest religious principle
param (highest) + dharma. Gauḍīyas: Bhagavata-dharma is param dharmam (SB 1.2.6: sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje). The verse names what Kṛṣṇa enacted as param dharmam — making household life a vehicle of bhakti.
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mahiṣyaḥ
—
queens
Plural of mahiṣī — chief wife, queen. The technical term for a king's consecrated wife. All sixteen thousand were not concubines but mahiṣīs — wives in the full Vedic sense. Kṛṣṇa's householderhood is not metaphorical.
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āsthitasya
—
of one situated in
Genitive present participle of ā + √sthā. Kṛṣṇa is āsthita — established — in param dharma. Bhagavān's dharma-position is not a performance but a fixed location, His ontological standing.
After having described the glories of the Yādavas with all the Lord’s sons when he became a householder, he now repeats this. He was situated in the most excellent (param) dharma of the householder since he is the shelter of all āśramas. It is also said: bhikṣābhujāc ca ye kecit parivrāṅ brahmacāriṇaḥ te py atraiva pratiṣṭhante gārhasthayaṁ tena cai varam Those who are sannyāsis, vanaprasthas, and brahmacārīs are all dependent upon the gṛhasthāśrama. Thus it is the best. Viṣṇu Purāṇa Or this was the best dharma because through it he could chiefly implement his goals. He was Svayam Bhagavān, who appeared in order to display his unlimited powers. Or, he attracted everyone’s heart (kṛṣṇasya) by the sweetness of performing those dharmas. Instead of ca sometimes tu is seen. This makes some distinction. He had eight principal queens (mentioned in the next verse) and he had sixteen thousand one hundred other queens.
Sixteen thousand one hundred wives, fully maintained — Bhagavān's gṛhastha-dharma is not symbolic, it is detailed accountancy. The Veda's householder life is upheld at maximum, not at minimum. Aiśvarya is dharma made bountiful.
My note
Source: vedabase.io