FolioCorpusBhagavad-gītā

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.90.42

సఙ్ఖ్యానం యాదవానాం క: కరిష్యతి మహాత్మనామ్ । యత్రాయుతానామయుతలక్షేణాస్తే స ఆహుక: ॥ ౪౨ ॥
saṅkhyānaṁ yādavānāṁ kaḥ
[sankhyaanam yaadavaanaam kah]
kariṣyati mahātmanām
[karishyati mahaatmanaam]
yatrāyutānām ayuta-
[yatraayutaanaam ayuta-]
lakṣeṇāste sa āhukaḥ
[lakshenaaste sa aahukah]
saṅkhyānam — the counting yādavānām — of the Yādavas kaḥ — who kariṣyati — can do mahā - ātmanām — of the great personalities yatra — among whom ayutānām — of tens of thousands ayuta — (times) ten thousand lakṣeṇa — with (three) hundred thousand (persons) āste — was present saḥ — he āhukaḥ — Ugrasena .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
saṅkhyānaṁ yādavānāṁ kaḥ
saṅkhyānam
the counting
yādavānām
of the Yādavas
kaḥ
who
kariṣyati mahātmanām
kariṣyati
can do
mahā - ātmanām
of the great personalities
yatrāyutānām ayuta-
yatra
among whom
ayutānām
of tens of thousands
ayuta
(times) ten thousand
lakṣeṇāste sa āhukaḥ
lakṣeṇa
with (three) hundred thousand (persons)
āste
was present
saḥ
he
āhukaḥ
Ugrasena .
  • āhukaḥ — Ugrasena (Āhuka)
    A patronymic of Ugrasena — Kaṁsa's father, Kṛṣṇa's maternal grandfather. Kṛṣṇa reinstalled him as king of Mathurā after slaying Kaṁsa. Gauḍīyas note: even those Bhagavān restores are restored at vast scale — Ugrasena's entourage is itself a small cosmos.
  • mahā-ātmanām — of the great souls
    Compound: mahā (great) + ātman (soul). Bhāgavata-vocabulary for Vaiṣṇavas of the highest order (Gītā 9.13: mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha). The Yādavas are addressed as mahātmās — not merely powerful, but spiritually great.
  • saṅkhyānam — enumeration
    Variant of saṅkhyā. Twice in two verses (40, 42) Bhāgavatam confesses enumeration fails. Aiśvarya cannot be tallied; the lover's bookkeeping breaks. Caitanya Mahāprabhu: kṛṣṇa-aiśvarya is anantam, beyond limit.
  • ayuta-lakṣeṇa — by a hundred million times ten thousand
    Compound: ayuta (10,000) + lakṣa (100,000). Three trillion: the multiplication of two large Sanskrit numbers. The poet pushes arithmetic past the speakable, the way mādhurya-rasa pushes intimacy past the displayable.
Who can count all the great Yādavas, when among them King Ugrasena alone was accompanied by an entourage of thirty trillion attendants?

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī explains why specifically thirty trillion, rather than an indefinite number of tens of trillions, is stated here to be the number of King Ugrasena’s attendants. He does so by citing the interpretational rule of kapiñjalādhikaraṇa, the logic of “referring to pigeons”: Somewhere in the Vedas is found the injunction that “one should sacrifice some pigeons.” This plural number should be taken to mean not an indiscriminate number of pigeons, but precisely three of them, since the Vedas never leave any matter vague. The rules of Mīmāṁsā interpretation take three as the default number when no specific number is given.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
Who can count all the great Yādavas, when among them King Ugrasena alone was accompanied by an entourage of thirty trillion attendants?
Commentary

Ayutanam ayuta laksena means 3x 10,000 (ayuta) x 10,000 (ayuta) x 100,000 (laksa), or 30,000,000,000,000, or three sankhas. The description is in the present tense to express Sukadeva’s realization of the eternal nature of the pastimes.

Jīva Gosvāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

How can one count them all? One cannot count even the servants. Who can count the chief of the Yādavas? Among them Ugrasena had thirty trillion attendants. Instead of sa āhukaḥ sometimes sadāhukaḥ is seen. The present tense indicates the eternal pastimes. This will be established later.

Śrīdhara Svāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

How can one count them all? One cannot count even the servants. Who can count the chief of the Yādavas? Because they were all devotees of the Lord, fully dedicated in their hearts, something will be said. Among them Ugrasena (āhukaḥ) had ten trillion attendants, or more.

Related values
Aparigraha (Non-possessiveness)Seva (Service / Selfless Action)Tyaga (Renunciation / Letting Go)Yajña (Sacrifice / Spirit of Offering)Dana (Charity / Generosity)Nishkama Karma (Selfless Action)
Related verses
Concepts
Jiva

Ugrasena alone walked with thirty trillion attendants. Bhagavān's father-in-law (His maternal grandfather) commands a court Brahmā cannot enumerate. The cosmos around Bhagavān behaves cosmically — the closer to Him, the more uncountable.

📝 My note

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