Verse Text
kaumāraṁ paṣcamābdāntaṁ paugaṇḍaṁ daśamāvadhi |
ā-ṣoḍaśāc ca kaiśoraṁ yauvanaṁ syāt tataḥ param ||309||
Translation
Childhood (kaumāra) ends with the fifth year. Boyhood (paugaṇḍa) ends with the tenth year. Youth (kaiśora) ends with the sixteenth year. After that is manhood (yauvana).
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
This is the general definition. Kṛṣṇa however should be understood to be special. Thus, there are verses such as following:
kālenālpena rājarṣe rāmaḥ kṛṣṇaś ca gokule
aghṛṣṭa-jānubhiḥ padbhir vicakramatur aṣjasā
O King Parīkṣit, within a very short time both Rāma and Kṛṣṇa began to walk very easily in Gokula on Their legs, by Their own strength, without the need to crawl. SB 10.8.26
Purport (Nectar of Devotion)
From His appearance day to the end of His fifth year is called kaumāra, from the beginning of the sixth year up to the end of the tenth year is called paugaṇḍa, and from the eleventh to the end of the fifteenth year is called kaiśora. After the beginning of the sixteenth year, Kṛṣṇa is called a yauvana, or a youth, and this continues with no change.