tÄá¹ vai pravayaso bÄlÄá¹
vidhi-jÃ±Ä vipra-yoá¹£itaḥ
bhavÄnīṠvandayÄá¹ cakrur
bhava-patnīṠbhavÄnvitÄm

 tÄm - her; vai - indeed; pravayasaḥ - elderly; bÄlÄm - the young girl; vidhi - of ritual injunctions; jñÄḥ - expert knowers; vipra - of brÄhmaṇas; yoá¹£itaḥ - the wives; bhavÄnÄ«m - to Goddess BhavÄnÄ«; vandayÄm cakruḥ - they led in offering respects; bhava-patnÄ«m - the wife of Bhava (Lord Siva); bhava-anvitÄm - accompanied by Lord Bhava.


Text

The older wives of brÄhmaṇas, expert in the knowledge of rituals, led young Rukmiṇī in offering respects to BhavÄnÄ«, who appeared with her consort, Lord Bhava.

Purport

According to the ÄcÄryas, here the term bhavÄnvitÄm indicates that in the AmbikÄ temple visited by Rukmiṇī, the presiding deity was the goddess, whose husband appeared in an accompanying role. Thus the ritual was properly performed by women.

ÅšrÄ«la ViÅ›vanÄtha CakravartÄ« comments that the term vidhi-jñÄḥ may be understood to mean that since the learned wives of brÄhmaṇas knew of Rukmiṇī’s desire to marry Kṛṣṇa, the verb vandayÄá¹ cakruḥ thus indicates that they prompted her to pray for what she really wanted. In this way, like the goddess BhavÄnÄ«, Rukmiṇī could be united with her eternal male companion.